Updated 14.38

A TRUCK CARRYING potentially explosive materials crashed into the shopfront of the Co Offaly town which US President Barack Obama is due to visit next month.

The truck, which had components for industrial explosives, hit the front of Donovan’s shop in Moneygall around 7.30am today, according to gardai. Fire services were called at 7.42am and arrived on the scene 11 minutes later. The Donovan family – who also own the ancestral home of Obama, which the US president is due to visit – were uninjured in the accident.

Canon Stephen Neill came upon the scene about half an hour later as he brought his son to the school bus stop. He told TheJournal.ie

The firemen I spoke to were particularly concerned about what was in the truck but thankfully it seems that the detonators were in a different section. There was an air of bemusement generally, especially as John Donovan who owns the shop also owns the house which is Obama’s ancestral home.

You couldn’t make it up.

A spokesperson for North Tipperary fire brigade services confirmed that the truck was being used to transport explosive materials but that they had been made safe for transit and the detonators were separate from the liquid elements. However, the fire service took no chances: they called in two fire tenders from Roscrea, one from Cloughjordan and a water tanker from Nenagh.

The rush will be on now to repair the shopfront in time for the visit of the US President. The shop window was smashed and a number of bricks were pushed in, but the damage is not thought to be structurally serious.

The street has now been reopened to traffic and the truck has been towed away by the emergency services.

Stephen Neill, who came upon the scene, also happens to be rector of the Anglican church where Barack Obama’s great-great-great grandfather was baptised. It was his research which uncovered records that confirmed Barack Obama’s roots in the area.

This was the scene in Moneygall this morning: