How has Jane and Bernie Sanders's visit to Kildare come about?

THIS May, US Senator Bernie Sanders and social worker and activist Jane O’Meara Sanders will visit Athy to launch the next plaque in the Made of Athy series.

The event will take place in Athy on May 24 at St Michael’s Cemetery at 4pm and will invite the couple to unveil the next plaque in the Made of Athy series while they are in Ireland visiting for various other talks and meetings.

The Sanders' attendance was confirmed after organisers sent a request to include them in unveiling the plaque linked to this cultural and personal heritage, which “came back positive,” according to the brainchild of Made of Athy, Colm Walsh.

Expected to be a laid-back event, organiser Colm Walsh said: “There's no reason for it not to be simple, because I think it's important in itself without kind of bells and whistles.” 

With a history of surprise high-profile visitors, Athy once again finds itself unexpectedly in the international spotlight—a testament, said Walsh, to the town’s unique ability to “punch so far above its weight.” The event is expected to draw a strong local turnout and a fair bit of curiosity, so make sure to head down to this unique community event.

The Made of Athy plaque will celebrate the anti-war song ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye’, a song that still resonates today, 200 years after it was written. The song has been recorded by Bob Dylan, Janis Ian, The Clancy Brothers, the Drop Kick Murphys, even Maureen Ohara, and it has echoed through songs from The Cranberries, the Clash and PJ Harvey.

The song, notable for being one of the rare traditional Irish songs written from a female perspective, resonates deeply with Jane Sanders, who is both a lifelong peace activist and an educator.

This project is supported by Kildare County Council and the Kildare Arts Office, and SIPTU.

On a much more personal note, Jane Sanders has ancestral roots in Ireland, specifically traced to Athy and Nenagh.

She was able to trace her roots back to Athy, and found she still has family locally.

It was discovered that Jane’s family, the Coyles, left Athy some years after The Famine in the 1850s for America.

With the help of American genealogists and Athy’s very own Clem Roche, connections between Jane and the Coyle family in Nicholastown and Barrowhouse were uncovered.

One of Jane’s relatives, Alfred Coyle, is commemorated on the memorial wall in St Michael’s Cemetery, which honours Athy men who died in the First World War. The new plaque will be installed beside his name.