Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and wife in surprise visit to Mayo centre

THE new Northern Ireland Secretary, Hilary Benn, and his wife, Sally, were surprise visitors yesterday (Tuesday) to the South Mayo Family Research Centre in Ballinrobe.

“They just popped in out of the blue and we had a very interesting chat,” explained centre coordinator Gerard Delaney.

It’s not the first time members of the extended family have been to Ballinrobe or indeed to the Family Research Centre, which is among the busiest in Ireland due to the high volume of emigration from south Mayo since the time of the famine in the mid-1800s.

Some of Sally Benn’s ancestors hail from south Mayo and Paul Waldron and the staff at the centre had previously delved into Mrs. Benn’s genealogical roots on her behalf.

Gerard Delaney, without going too deeply into Sally’s ancestry, explained: “Her people, who came from Catholic tenant-farmer stock, became prominent in a profession in the county in the 19th century.

“Some members of the family went overseas where they held prestigious positions in the days of the British Empire. At least two received knighthoods.”

Hilary Benn was appointed the new Northern Ireland Secretary following the recent UK general election victory by the Labour Party.

He has represented Leeds Central in the House of Commons since 1999 and is now the Leeds South Constituency.

He had been the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland since September 2023.

He also served in the cabinet from 2003 to 2010 under Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

South Mayo Family Research Centre, which has computerised millions of records, many of which are available on the rootsireland website, also sponsors a highly successful training scheme in conjunction with the Mayo Sligo Leitrim ETB through which dozens of people have found employment over the years.