George Clooney to holiday in Ireland with his new wife Amal Alamuddin

George Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin

Patricia Danaher

January 05 2015 11:14 PM

George Clooney and his wife will visit Ireland this summer, the actor has exclusively revealed to the Irish Independent.

It will be the first time that Clooney will visit his ancestral home, although his wife, Amal Alamuddin, has visited a number of times.

"I'm embarrassed that I've never properly been there before now. I've been talking about going there for years and Bono has been trying to get me to do a bike ride around Ireland with him.

"He probably won't be up for that now, but I'm definitely going to make a visit happen this summer. Amal has been several times, so she can show me around."

Clooney has Irish roots on both sides of the family. His father's great-great-grandfather Nicholas Clooney came from Co Kilkenny.

His paternal grandmother's maiden name was Guilfoyle.

The name Clooney is an anglicised version of the Irish O Cluanaigh, which translates as a descendant of Clugnach, meaning a rogue or a flatterer.

Clooney will receive the Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award this Sunday at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles. Previous recipients have included Martin Scorsese, Robin Williams and Robert deNiro.

Yesterday Clooney threw a party in Beverly Hills for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is honouring him with the award.

"We're going to have a lot of fun this Sunday. I'm bringing my wife with me and everyone is going to be much more interested in her than in me, and I can understand that."

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He also promised to pay back the hosts of the show, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, for jokes they made about him last year. During one sketch, they joked that Clooney's character in 'Gravity' would rather float off into space than spend a minute in the company of a woman who wasn't at least half his age.

"Oh, they better be ready, those ladies! I'm coming for them on Sunday," he laughed. "It's going to be very funny."

The actor showed off his wedding ring as he chatted happily to his guests at his private club, Craig's on Melrose. He sipped his favourite tipple, tequila.

He mentioned a recent memorial he attended for the noted publicist Nadia Bronson, who also had Irish roots.

"She would have been in stitches at having a church full of Jews singing Ave Maria for her memorial. I imagined her sitting beside me and the two of us giggling at such a feat. We owe her a proper Irish wake."