JOHN BRENNAN, THE head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), will attend an event to mark The Gathering in the Roscommon village of Kilteevan tonight.

Brennan, whose father is a Roscommon native, became director of the agency in January of this year following the resignation of David Petraeus over an affair with his biographer.

Brennan, 57, is a 25-year CIA veteran whose father Owen was born in Cloontuskert in Kilteevan, about two miles from Roscommon town. He emigrated to the US in 1948 but his son regularly visits Roscommon.

It’s understood that Brennan is in Kilteevan tonight in a personal capacity having been invited back by The Gathering committee.

The Gathering is the government’s year-long campaign to get the Irish diaspora back home and has been widely hailed as a success so far with tourism numbers up by over five per cent in the first six months of the year.

More: Irishman who planned bin Laden raid to be named as new CIA head

Read: Boost for tourism with visitor numbers up 5.4 per cent in first six months

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