Epic online reunification of the descendants of the great Irish clans

Project to join, connect and engage all those with Irish sunames

By: Adrian O' Carroll | Published Friday, December 23, 2011, 7:18 AM | Updated Friday, December 23, 2011, 10:52 AM

A ground-breaking and innovative online project is under way to reconnect all of the descendants of Ireland. Based on the concept of the Irish Clan name, the Great Irish Online Clan Gathering is seeking to build the international profile of Ireland and its people by connecting to an audience that may never have known of their direct links to Ireland via their surname.

The Great Irish Online Clan Gathering (operated by the Irish Clans Network, an organisation funded by charitable donations from anonymous benefactors), is an extraordinary effort to join, connect and engage all those people throughout the world who have an Irish surname themselves OR have an Irish surname within their family tree.

Going several steps beyond the Irish Government’s initiative of the “Certificate of Irish Heritage”, which launched in October 2011 and requests official documentation before granting a certificate, the Great Irish Clan Gathering has absolutely no barriers to entry and provides a wealth of authoritative FREE historical content on each Irish Clan.

Taking the view that people who have, or whose ancestors have had, an Irish last name can in some way trace their heritage back to Ireland – the Great Irish Clan Gathering, launching this Christmas/New Year season, aims to use that special bond of a shared surname as the platform to do so.

And the latest developments in social media technology are at the core of the Great Irish Online Clan Gathering. A specially commissioned Facebook Application has been designed and developed to help people rally their fellow Irish Clan members, who are encouraged to join and connect with their own individual Irish Clan via the Great Irish Clan Gathering Facebook page.

With so many people of Irish descent spread throughout the world, be it a Murphy who is fifth generation Irish or an O’Rourke who has recently left Ireland’s shores; the Great Irish Clan

Gathering now provides a tangible link back to the people and the land from which they originally came.

Never before in Ireland’s history have the Irish Clans reached out to its descendants on a global scale and this promises to be one of the most ground-breaking and pioneering initiatives to come out of Ireland yet.

The fact that this initiative is based on the last name of an individual means that a connection to Ireland that was perhaps never recognised (or even known about) before can now become established through this online gathering of people.

Surnames are naturally passed down from generation to generation, from parents to children, and these names have survived down through the centuries. Even though someone’s descendant may have left Ireland several generations ago, that undeniable connection has remained alive and well within the very name that they were born with and which is part of their own unique identity.

And the fact that the Great Irish Clan Gathering provides a wealth of free historical content published in short snippets means that users on Facebook will be engaged so much more.

The provision of bite-sized content ensures that the information is easy to read which in turn promotes the sharing of interesting details relating to an Irish family name.
The ability to share with friends and family means that the rich history and heritage of Ireland will virally spread around the globe thus promoting the island internationally to a broad audience who may never before have realised the direct levels of their connection to Ireland.

Find, join and connect with your Irish Clan at The Great Irish Online Clan Gathering