By Thomas Breathnach | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT DECEMBER 14, 2013

CARNA, Ireland — “So what part of the motherland are you in right now, Tom?” Boston’s Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh asked me in a recent phone call as misted peaks loomed beyond my window. I had just arrived at the Carna Bay, a family-run hotel nestled here in the village where Walsh’s father lived until he emigrated in 1956. “Ah, I know it well,” he said. “You’re getting the five-star treatment then?” read more