Barack Obama and Michelle Obama sip Guinness at a pub as they visit Moneygall, Ireland Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama has visited Moneygall in the Republic of Ireland as he begins a week-long tour of Europe.

The tiny village in County Offaly was the home of one of his ancestors who emigrated to America in 1850.

Locals greeted Mr Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with cries of "Welcome home!" as they entered the village.

The Obamas landed in Dublin earlier on Monday. Security is tight for the trip, following the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan three weeks ago.

Crowds lined the streets in Moneygall - which has just 300 residents - to welcome the Obamas to the village that was home to the president's great-great-great grandfather, a shoemaker.

Mardell's America
“Start Quote

'The president pays his way,' said Mr Obama as he slapped down some money on the bar”


During the couple's short visit, they visited the ancestral home of the Kearney family, shook hands with well-wishers lining Moneygall's flag-bedecked main street and enjoyed supping on a pint - or a half, in the first lady's case - of Guinness in Ollie Hayes' pubs, one of the village's two drinking establishments.

There had been a minor delay to the schedule when the bomb-proof presidential Cadillac - nicknamed "the Beast" - became stuck on a ramp on the way out of the US embassy in Dublin, forcing the US first couple to switch vehicles.

On their return to Dublin later, Mr Obama will deliver an open-air speech on College Green.