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A call for Irish Diaspora to come home

Fáilte Ireland promotion to signify 'call home to the Irish diaspora around the world'

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, November 2, 2010, 8:05 AM

Updated Wednesday, August 1, 2012, 3:08 PM

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39 Comments

Ballinskelligs Bay, County Kerry

A year long promotion of Ireland entitled “The Gathering” will be launched by President Barack Obama next March, it has been announced.

Speaking at the Founders conference in Dublin over the weekend John Concannon, the Director of Regional Development with Fáilte Ireland, announced that the year-long promotion will be launched at the White House next St Patrick’s Day by President Barack Obama and Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

A spokesman for Fáilte Ireland told IrishCentral.com that the initiative was still in the development stages and would signify a “call home to the Irish diaspora around the world”.

The 12 month promotion will take place throughout 2012 and will include a range of sporting and cultural events at home and abroad. Some of the events will include an American Football game between Notre Dame and the Navy in Dublin, the World Surfing Championship being held in Ireland and a global computer game event.

Mr Concannon urged all Irish businesses to contribute and said he “would like as many of you to work with us as possible”.

The Fáilte Ireland representative was addressing the conference of international technology entrepreneurs including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Chad Hurley from YouTube, and Niklas Zennstrom from Skype.

Nster.com

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39 Comments

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lostgold | Nov 04, 2010, 12:36 PM EDT

No Seamusmor you don't have it right. I was writing about real Irish people born in Ireland. Not people of Irish descent born elsewhere. The Irish diaspora who are not of 100 percent Irish ancestry and by that I mean only old Norman and Gael should stay out of this for most likely even if well meaning they don't know what they are talking about. I'm talking about the survival of an ethnic group a biological concept not citizenship a political or state concept.

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Ajreaper | Nov 04, 2010, 11:39 AM EDT

Jamie thanks for a breath of common sense- I, like many of those in the U.S. who consider themselves to be "Irish" am at a stage in my life where I can travel internationally if I choose to. I specifically have chosen to travel to Ireland at this time because that's where my paternal Gr Gr grandparents immigrated from. I know it's not the Ireland they left and I know I am not Irish but the connection, even though it goes back several generations is why I choose to travel to Ireland. My guess is that's true for a significant number of that 40 million folks in the U.S. who choose to travel to Ireland or are considering it- seems like it's not a bad idea to market to them.

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jamieLM | Nov 04, 2010, 11:04 AM EDT

I'm an American because I was born and raised here. Ethnically-speaking, I have all Irish ancestry on my father's side and mostly Irish, but with some Welsh, English, French, Scotch-Irish, and documented Cherokee, on my mother's side. I'm not Irish, I'm American. The country you were born and raised in and your ethnicity - those can be 2 different things. When I've traveled to Ireland (on Aer Lingus), I've gone as an American tourist who has a lot of Irish ancestry. I don't care about the ethnicity of any U.S. President. I'm in favor of all our Presidents promoting a close relationship with Ireland in recognition of the contributions the immigrant Irish made to America. I'm very proud of my Irish ancestry, but I leave the business of the diaspora to Ireland and to those who wish to take advantage of it. Btw, "The Gathering" is the name of the large Irish club I belong to which promotes learning about Irish history, culture, and language. We think there are about 50 million people with Irish ancestry in the U.S.

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WoundedKnee | Nov 04, 2010, 03:35 AM EDT

seamusmoore: Your reading skills are quite deficient. I never menioned Ted Kennedy. Of course he's American, not Irish. I never mentioned Obama either. What kind of garbage are you putting out? As to the other person, I have no idea who she is. Should I? I did point out, as have many tourists, that one of the reasons that Irish tourism has declined is that they they have gone for the cheap option by hiring foreigners who know nothing of Ireland. The Irish hotel owners etc. are killing their own industry by filling it with Polish and Chinese employees. If I want to meet Poles I'll vacation in Warsaw. seamusmoore, do me a favor and read my posts before posting garbage about them.

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Ajreaper | Nov 04, 2010, 12:55 AM EDT

I believe it's tradition that the President of the U.S. hosts representatives of the Irish goverment on St Pat's and they are using that meeting to kick off a tourist campaign for Ireland and the president just happens to be black- so whats the big dang deal about that? And considering some 40 million Americans on U.S. census forms identified their ethnicity as Irish it's not a bad idea to promote a so called gathering in Ireland here in the U.S.- big difference between the country you are a citizen of and your ethnic makeup- strange some of you have so much trouble understanding that.

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seamusmoore | Nov 03, 2010, 11:10 PM EDT

Wounded Knee and lostgold: let me get this right, you would believe that Ted Kennedy was Irish and Samantha Mumba is not, Very interesting mindset. Woodkern: So you could consider Obama black because he had an African sperm donor whose sole contact with him after age 2, was 1 week when he was 11 and his father visited him in Hawaii (Source: "Dreams From My Father"). Obama was raised by very strange white people; his grandfather named his mother Stanley because he wanted a boy). Most Americans identify themselves as German, Irish, Italian, etc because we are a country of immigrants. The reality is that within a generation or two, most people assimilate, identifying themselves as Americans first. Perhaps you have not read the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan's book "Beyond the Melting Pot". Stereotyping O'Reilly and Hannity shows your ignorance of American political history as JFK would be considered "right wing" today. The Democratic party of JFK died on the streets of Chicago in 1968. You may read my earlier comment on Thomas Osborne Davis and the concept of an Irish identity.

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maloney | Nov 03, 2010, 10:24 PM EDT

woodenhead...obviously you don't understand what you have written & sure as your a jack arse didn't understand what I wrote. Did I say he was a muslim? Your a blathering idiot. Ya liberal puke.

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lostgold | Nov 03, 2010, 09:35 PM EDT

Woodkern I'm not Irish -American I'm Irish born in England and I'm not referring to" ruddy blue eyed"Irish- Americans born in U.S. suburbs I'm referring to "ruddy blue eyed Irish born in Ireland. I could have been born in China and have Chinese citizenship but I am not Han.Black people could have been born in Ireland and have Irish citizenship but they are not Gael.

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hancock | Nov 03, 2010, 09:32 PM EDT

Woodkern , one thing is for sure, you are one miseable arrogant donkey. The sooner you get on a plane the better.

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Woodkern | Nov 03, 2010, 07:55 PM EDT

A Marxist? Are you certain that he's not a Muslim, or was that last month's myth. If you were to turn off Glenn Beck and hone your reading comprehension skills, you'd be able to read that I oppose the President's alleged involvement in this Diaspora Dillusion. What infantile puerile temper tantrums ensue when one merely suggests that people from Ireland are Irish and those from America are Americans. This site is a hoot! I do hope that Fáilte Ireland is reading this and see to what they may be subjecting their country next summer. Ireland has much to offer. It's a shame that rather than on focusing on the best things about their country, Ireland's tourist agency is appealing to the most embarrassing elements of ours. "Gathering" indeed! LOL!

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maloney | Nov 03, 2010, 06:36 PM EDT

woodkern..you would do well to jump on the plane with obama & not return to the U.S. I could care less if the man was green, he's still a marxist, just like your left wing arse. If the Irish think obama is a good representative of Ireland & will fill their coffers with euros, more power to them. I personally think it's absurd. I traveled the globe for over 25 years, proving your socialist, marxist arrogance is as overbearing as your mouth. Your just another bill maher wannabe jerkoff. Your flight is now boarding at gate 9. Ya arse hole.

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Woodkern | Nov 03, 2010, 04:27 PM EDT

I've lost track of how many times I've flown to Ireland. (My last three flights were with the attitude-free Continental Airlines.) No, and I've no general distaste for anyone born in Ireland. However, I do find my fellow Americans who think they're "Irish" to be a tiresome lot. It's a pity that Fáilte Ireland is choosing to aim so low with this tasteless and tacky "Gathering" gimmick.

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GeorgeDillon | Nov 03, 2010, 04:06 PM EDT

Woodkern, your lack of respect for the democratically enacted Constitution of Ireland is disgusting. And your attack on Aer Lingus shows you are an utter ignormamus who probably has never been in a plane in his life. Aer Lingus is consisstently the lowest fare option for flights from cities like Chicago & NYC to Ireland. Looks like you never get beyond some Irish ghetto in Woodside or the Bronx. Idiot.

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GeorgeDillon | Nov 03, 2010, 04:01 PM EDT

Woodkern is full of hate and prejudice. He loves Africans born in Ireland, but hates Irish born in Ireland. You're a fanatic and a fool, Woodkern!

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eiregirl | Nov 03, 2010, 03:57 PM EDT

It's a great marketing campaign. Great idea. If you've never been and say to every Irish person you meet..."oh I'd love to go some day" well here is your chance to go. Put your money where your mouth is, but make sure it's alot of money because like the US, everything costs money.

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