Gathering 2013 expected to attract over 300,000 visitors to Ireland - VIDEO

Ciara, What on earth is going on - I thought we were having a candlelit dinner for two at yours on Tuesday. No? Éamonn. PS. Those Nasville guys are only good for singing C&W !

Dukmarshal, at least Japanese tourists take photos and run onto their tourbus! They dont stand around for ages blocking your view! Brian, When I was in NY I was also stopped and asked for directions by someone from Boston! Everytime Im in Italy some hot Italian man asks me for directions. At least I think thats what theyre asking me for! Im really looking forward to my Nashville trip. Staying with the lads there then heading to Memphis for a few days. I have all my tickets for the Civil Rights museum, Stax museum, Graceland etc. Gonna pay my respects to Jeff Buckley who drowned in the Mississippi there too, then back to Nashville and on to visit family in LA for a couple of days. Should be a great few weeks. Seanmor, no offense but the general feeling among Irish is that we really dont have any bond with the Diaspora unless we are related to them and I dont mean 5th cousin twice removed. I have first cousins in LA, we are great pals. It ends there. We dont bond with people just because they had an irish relative, we bond with those who bring something to our lives. Those lads I met from Nashville,well I have a bond with them. And not a shamrock between them.

Enda Kenny was first elected to the Dáil 1n 1975. Eight years later the gov't of the Irish state boycotted the N.Y.C. St. Patrick's Day parade because it disapproved of its democratically elected Grand Marshal, Mike Flannery, a veteran of the war that lberated 5/6ths of Ireland from British rule. In 1985 the Dáil crowd again boycotted our St. Patrick's Day parade on account of Peter King being its Grand Marshal. King was soon elected to Congress and played a key role in arranging the peace process that led to G.F.A. Sholdn't the gov't of the Irish state apologize to the New York Irish for having rejected us in the 70s and 80s, calling us misinformed malcontents, sentimental fools, supporters of terrorism. Ireland, North and South, has a great deal to offer the tourist and the ordinary Irish people are friendly, warm and hospitable, but the Dail crowd have treated the diaspora Irish in the U.S. too badly for too long.

ciaradexy, You make me wish I was a nashville tourist. I had a shop off a main highway near BOSTON Where every tourist got lost and needed directions. I've found I have more patience with them than the local folks who should know better. It is funny though see me giving directions to Chinese, Japanese, Puerto Ricans, South American, and the most foreign speaking New Yorkers.

No matter where one is tourists can be a pain in the a---. When my girls were little we had stopped at the Grand Canyon on the way home. We found a great spot to watch the sun set. 30 minutes later as the sun was setting I found our view totally blocked by a whole bus load of Japanese tourists. Being an inconsiderate tourist is not exclusive to us yanks.

Ciara, when my grandmum came to the US in 1900 she worked hotel in NY cleaning and scrubbing the floors and sent money back to Ireland to her mum and da for the rest of the family.

I have a mate working in a hotel in WPB. She did a degree in hotel management and just before she did her finals last year, the manager held interviews here as she was looking for 2 new members of staff so shes over there since last June. Should she return home because theres a recession in the US?

Dildo, you said my father earlier and now its my brother? Are you purposely changing it to see if you can make a funny? It really hasnt worked. Mcnamara, I work with tourists and the ones I love to see coming are the ones who are delighted to be here. The ones who are open and inquisitive not the ones like george there whos a stereotypical fat old know it all (likes to think so anyway). I met 2 lads from Nashville in Galway in march, Im going to visit them in october, the craic we had for the 10 days they were here was unreal! I brought them to the Cliffs, Lahinch for surfing, the aran Islands, Ballyvaughan, Cnoc Suain, Spiddal, Clifden, Inisbofin, Kinsale, Carrigaline (we stayed with my family), Kilkenny, all over wicklow, they stayed with me in Dublin, we went to Newgrange, Slane, Boyne Valley etc and we had a ball! They were interested, intrigued, enthusiastic, fun to be around, all sorts of good stuff! And I was the one who showed them around. I showed them MY home. I was their tourguide and they loved every second of their trip here. THATS what its all about. Not some tool arriving off a plane staying in an American chain of hotels complaining about Polish room service attendants. Ancavaker, theres a recession in the US, why dont you leave and give your job to an American? Just because YOUR cousin is a drain on resources and has no self respect and it perpetuating a cycle of cradle to grave welfare with her kid does not mean that everyone else is. I have loads of mates here from all over the world, every single one of them has a good qualification and not one of them is unemployed. Theyre paying their taxes so YOUR cousin can sit on her hole all day. She should be grateful for them. There are penty of jobs out there. The Earl of Kildare hotel is looking for staff, reeds on Nassau St are looking for staff as is the Spar in Dolphins barn. Why wont your cousin take one of those jobs?

300,000, that would be emigrants home for Christmas then.

McNamara31, I hope you don't mind me agreeing with you. Ciara, tourist are hard to deal with in both our countries sometimes a little direction and help and patience goes a long way. The influx of cash may be enough to keep some struggling small businesses open, I'm sure that's the hope.

Cara: A country with massive unemployment and a failed political system, should not be importing workers to do these jobs. if the economy was booming that would be another story. I have a cousin in Ireland unmarried, unemployed with a kid, free council housing, won't marry the father or she looses the unmarried mother benefit. University educated,she was in Belgium a little while back, on holiday as the stress of being unemployed was getting to her and she needed a break!!!!

Aaah, Ciara! "Eamo"! Brings me back to the lazy days on the swing in your back garden, where you and I first collided. You've gotten a bit grumpy since then, but still ........Happy days! Éamonn.

McNamara: Your post is an island of decency and common sense in the pool of hate that spews out of ciaradexy and her (very few) "pals". Ciaradexy is quick to attack Americans who come to Ireland with a will to enjoy and appreciate the couintry and its culture. Maybe ciaradexy is defensive because she knows how far modern Ireland has degenerated and is just a shadow of what it once was. It has little culture of its own. But the notion that only American visitors to Ireland can say dopey things just shows how unsophisticated ciaradexy is. The Irish can match that any day. It's almost a decade ago now, but I still remember the conversation I heard at the check-in desk at JFK. We were waiting to board a flight to Pittsburgh, when I heard an Irish accent near me. The agent was telling him "I think I can get you to Pittsburgh, but you'll have to fly stand-by". To which the Irishman (ciaradexy's brother?) replied: "I really have to get to Pittsburgh, I don't mind standing".

Now if Aer Lingus just dropped their fares by 40% or so maybe thoose of us exiled abroad could afford the trip home...

ciaradexy …Yes there are ugly Americans just like ugly French or Spanish of yes, Irish. We all come in two categories likeable and unlikeable. The next time you encounter “a first time visiting Ireland” American think about it this why ...They've probably heard the stories all their life about how wonderful Ireland is and yes how green it is. Many American’s first visit, comes in their retirement years and it’s almost like the salmon swimming upstream to reach the place of their birth before they die. So next time they ask a silly question or talk about how Irish they are "cut em a little slack" the trip home mean a lot to them and BTW to the Irish economy as well. And if you visit America, hopefully you will be met by a friendly kind smile as well.