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Family History, gabriel byrne, history, Ireland, irish heritage, irish summer, the gathering, Tourism, travel, west of ireland
What do I think of The Gathering 2013? I think it is a fantastic idea.
Sorry Gabriel Byrne, I know, living as you do in New York, you don’t agree with me and you think we are shaking people down for money. But for me, living here in a small town in the west of Ireland where income and jobs are scarce, I for one won’t say no to seeing a few extra tourists around.
The Gathering is a government backed initiative, intended to boost Ireland’s income from Tourism. “In 2013 Ireland will open it’s arms to friends and family all over the world, inviting them back to locally organised events in villages, towns and cities. Over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish heritage. The Gathering provides the perfect excuse to reach out to those who have moved away, their relatives, friends and descendants and invite them home.”And do you know what? If one or two of those tourists happen to be long-lost relatives of mine from an ancestor who emigrated 100 years ago, then all the better because I would love to know that family history. Or if they are school friends of mine who had to emigrate with me from our even smaller town in the 1980s, then they are very welcome and I look forward to catching up and having a laugh. If they happen to be my brother who emigrated to Dubai a few years ago and has done far better for himself over there than he ever would have here, then I say fantastic to that!
There are thousands of events being organised all over the country to attract visitors from Ireland and abroad. Those tourists will spend some of their hard-earned money here for sure and that is part of the plan. But they bring much more than that to our country. Tourists bring life, vibrancy, and optimism to a town, especially to small towns. Knowing that visitors are coming can spur a town on to get the place cleaned up, tidied and looking it’s best. Events that are organised for visitors also cheer up the locals who get to partake too. And if us locals get to re-connect with distant family and friends then all the better for everyone involved.
I love to see tourists wandering through town. It means our local airport and accommodation providers have customers. Our shops and restaurants will hopefully benefit too. And sometimes I even see familiar things through different eyes when I see them through the eyes of a tourist (like Magnumlady’s visit here recently – loved her photos and barely recognised the town!). I smile and nod acknowledgement to the tourists I pass in town. Well I can’t have them going home saying the Irish redhead walked past with her head in the air, can I?
So well done to all of you involved in Gathering events. You’ve got up off your behinds and done something to improve your town or village. If we all do our bit we can improve the tourism industry here and that will have far-reaching effects for our economy, our outlook and our wellbeing.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
And Gabriel, if you want to see what a Gathering event can do for small town Ireland, just give me a call. You can sleep on the sofa and I’ll chauffeur you around for a few days. It might just open your eyes to life here as well as life in New York.
I had not heard about this. Thank you for sharing this information. I will be going home to Ireland this year to see my family. Looking forward to seeing my homeland again
Thanks for stopping by to my blog. The Gathering can get people really going here, some people on Gabriels side and some with views like mine. Regardless, hope you have a great holiday!!
Well put Ellie. No-one denies that the Gathering events will bring money into Ireland…. that’s what tourism does…. like it does for any country, not just Ireland. I for one, love the idea of Ireland opening up it’s outstretched arms to those of us with a connection to your country, whether it be recent or long long ago. There will always be the ‘critical mass’ that say it’s a rip off, but I don’t believe that for one second. As a well travelled tourist & a Irish descendant, I go to places I love to visit & I spend my hard earned cash wisely. Ireland is no different to any other country as far as wanting to boost it’s economy with the tourist dollar. New Zealand where I live, does exactly the same & like Ireland, Tourism is crucial to our economy.
So glad you feel welcome to join us here. Tourist, or descendant, I am glad you enjoyed your visit. And your photos are fantastic!!
I think this sounds like a lovely idea on many levels. I’m not sure how it can be seen to be “shaking people down for money.” Once, my sisters, my mother and myself went to England to visit the Cotswalds area. We spent a couple of days in a small village and were delighted to find there was a village festival happening while we were there. We were told it was an annual occurrence as a way to raise funds for local charities. There was live music, a parade, games. We paid to join in and listen to the music and played the games and ate – we felt welcome and not at all like tourists. It was the best day of our whole trip!
I’ve never been to Ireland. Most of my ancestors came from England, but some came from Ireland, and a few came from Scotland. So far, I’ve only been able to visit the southern parts of England – but Ireland calls out me! I will make it there one day. It would be icing on the cake if it happened to be during a ‘Gathering.’
Oh I hope you get to visit here some day!
Thanks to the concept of The Gathering we couldn’t think of a better time to have our family re-unite for one week in Ireland.Our flights are booked from Melbourne Australia, flights for son and partner from university in Montreal Canada and we are ‘gathering” in the beautiful irish village of Rostrevor to be with our gorgeous daughter (whose birthday is today and I am missing her!). and partner.
We have co-incided our family’s gathering with Rostrevor’s Fiddlers Green Festival – which is guaranteed to be great fun.
I am sure The Gathering initiative started me off to get our own little gathering happening in 2013.
And as a mother l cant wait to be all together again!!
Thanks Ireland and The Gathering.
Cheers Alison
Wow! That sounds like a great family reunion from all corners of the globe. I hope you all have a wonderful time.
Great post, Ellie. I totally agree, and will be coming over to my ‘home’ village of Moynalty, Co. Meath in August. I can’t wait. I think it’s a brilliant idea, and I hope it gives as big a boost to the Irish economy that I know it will give to the spirits of those of us who are part of the diaspora.
Hope the sun shines on your trip Lois!
It sounds like a really good idea and an exciting event. As you say, it can be a big financial boom to the country as well as an opportunity to meet long lost family and or friends.
What is Gabriel’s problem with it?
Gabriel was concerned for the undocumented illegal Irish in USA, the longterm illegals and the new ones arriving there again due to our recession. He has a point about us having to remember and help them. But that is a different and much more serious problem which requires goverment action on a bigger scale.
The Gathering is really about people here in Ireland taking the initiative themselves and taking a small step to get our country back on it’s feet. As far as I am concerned it is much better than doing nothing.
I agree with you.
I am with you Ellie .. and will be participating in a few gatherings myself this year xx
Great informative post ya got here. Thanks for this!
And who knows I might bump into you at a few Gathering events in Galway.
Ooh, Gabriel Byrne on the sofa. What a very nice thought.
All the best, Ellie: may The Gathering in your village be spectacular.
I’ll send him over to your house after will I?!
I’ll get the kettle on.
A great post!
I have a certain sympathy with Gabriel Byrnes perception – where is the evidence that Ireland ever even wondered what happened to our ancestors who were forced to leave down the centuries because of hunger during the Famine, because they were being persecuted for their religion or for pure economic reasons? In my experience it was the people who had left or their descendants who made the effort to come back to find out who they are or were. I never heard of anyone in Ireland trying to find descendants of relatives who had to leave, until recent times. A case in point is that tens of thousands of Irish men and some women, many of them Famine victims, fought on both sides in the American Civil War. By any account, this was a most definitive event that shaped modern history. Irish people who left these shores, often starving, went on to fight for their new country – countless numbers lost their lives; countless numbers were maimed and disfigured, countless numbers and their families were affected for the rest of their lives. The 150th anniversary of this event is ongoing – yet these commemorations and the huge contribution of the Irish is not acknowledged, not recognized by this State. That is a terrible shame.
At a recent commemoration of the contribution by the Irish Brigade, the Irish representatives were ( I believe) The Deputy Mayor of Kerry, a representative from the Irish Embassy and a small colour guard from the Irish Army. Is this a fitting tribute to acknowledge the huge contribution our people, our ancestors, our relations made to the formation of modern society? We certainly have work to do to to reconnect and value our Diaspora.
That said, I love the idea of The Gathering and I love the idea of lots of visitors coming to Ireland to discover us, to meet in groups large and small,and generally ‘gather’ in the name of Irishness. I also see the economic value to all parts of Ireland in doing that, and for the future, I hope that the Ireland Reaching Out initiative will help to set up links and networks that will enable us to proudly celebrate the achievements of our emigrants. It will be a win-win situation – they will love being acknowledged and will come here to reconnect with us .
Really enjoyed reading your post and your blog and hope that you get tons of visitors to your Gathering events in the West of Ireland. I may even get to one or two myself!
Thats true. A lot of the achievements of our ancestors have been lost / forgotten over time. A lot of links were broken with the trauma of emigration in the past. Hopefully now that the current generation have technology at their fingertips, and appear to be interested in family history, then maybe we will strengthen those ties. The world is a small place after all.
Ellie – so true and that is my hope too – the world has certainly shrunk in recent times . Love your blog
Angela
There is much to like about the idea of The Gathering and I’m interested in seeing all the positive responses from people from overseas planning their own ‘Gatherings’. However, when the issue came up for debate on Journal.ie a while ago, there were a lot who shared Gabriel Byrne’s view. I see both sides of the argument and I guess time will tell. Hope Gabriel takes up your invitation.
I know there are lots who agree that the Gathering is a bit of a cynical effort and maybe in some ways it is but I am always in favour of people taking action to better their communities. I was at a local Gathering event last week and there was a great buzz and lots of people there. So it really filled me with hope and optimism.
Ps. if Gabriel comes over, I’ll give you a call!!
Great post and thanks for the mention
I love exploring so I love seeing tourists in Sligo. I do feel sorry for them though as they tend to get up early and nothing much is open here before 10am
Same here. I see them wandering the streets as I go to work! Someone needs to tell our tourists that small towns don’t get moving till after 10am.
I do have Irish heritage…….
You’ll have to come and visit sometime then!
Cool, I hadn’t heard about this. My family recently found out we might have Irish heritage, after generations of hearing it was Scottish. Maybe I should make the voyage.
You will have to make the voyage. Bet you do have Irish heritage – us irish seem to have got around!!