Obama-mania in Irish village for prodigal son's return

MONEYGALL, Ireland - A tiny Irish village is busily redecorating and putting up the Stars and Stripes to prepare for the return of the prodigal son: US President Barack Obama.

Obama is expected to make a brief visit on Monday to Moneygall, little more than a cluster of pebble-dashed houses, a few shops and a pub, to see where his great-great-great grandfather on his mother's side, Falmouth Kearney, hailed from.

In 1850, with Ireland ravaged by famine, the 19-year-old cobbler's son left for the new world, arriving in New York before settling in Ohio.