Irish Heritage Certificate scheme a dud as Irish Americans pass on it

Why would declining this contrived "certificate" be a reliable barometer on Americans feelings about their Irish heritage? If anything, it's rejection is a positive indicator.

This apallingly low uptake must give pause to anybody who was hoping to lead 'De Diaspora' as an entity to assist in relieving Ireland's economic woes ... or promise their support for their Irish Presidential ambitions (!) - now thankfully lying in the dust along with 60 million unwanted Certificates of Irishness. At least we know what Americans REALLY feel about their Irish heritage.

Geez! I wonder how "da Gatherin" will go?

1,042 divided by 60,000,000 = 0.00173% Not a great take-up rate. But an optimum 100% take up rate for this ethically challenged product could have netted the Irish Government €2,400,000,000. A pretty penny to keep the IMF wolf from the civic door. Alas, Ireland's economically exiled children in America and further afield are not up for exploitation. Now they'll have to hit the 33,000 silver spooner millionaire family houselholds in the 26 counties (Census of Ireland, 2011) to pull their weight for once in their cossetted lives.

They do not need to relax the requirements, they need to provide a benefit. Why would any with 1/2 a brain pay €40 for a piece of paper telling them what they already know?

I do not need a piece of paper from anyone to know who I am and where my people come from in the world. The Irish-born go to great lengths to let the rest of us know somehow we're "not Irish". I am sure that Israel considers her children "Jewish" wherever they happen to be in the world. I'm not an Irish citizen, but my DNA is 100% Irish! No paper needed for me. Thanks!

Its an insulting load of rubbish. Simply tourist propaganda. Its message is clear, 'here, you thick plastic dupe something bright and sparkly to make you feel Irish. No thanks dont need a piece of paper my parents do that for me.

A complete take on as I said when it was first advertised, why buy rubbish like that when you can get an Irish passport

I cannot comprehend what the benefit of this piece of paper gives anyone?

I've got my long birth certificate,rotunda hospital Dublin.Eiriamach has got the idea!! trying to trace 4th generation and beyond is a hard task(and expensive)

Another slap in the face by this bunch of beggars calling themselves the Government.What we really want is our Birth right too VOTE. Possibly we may now be granted that right by Angela and the German Government who own and call all the shots for Ireland.

If Ryan gets to be Vice Prez you'll see the Irish descending on him like flies on .... you know what.

I believe that the Certificate and $2.50 will get you a Caffe Latte at Starbucks. Serioulsy though if the documentation needed to prove eligibility is far too complicated, how the hell did Obama get his certificate? What type of documentation did he present to the schemers? His Haavaard records?

All Hail 'Cassandra Towngate!'

The Irish government should consider that after they removed most of the baptism and marriage records from the churches, it became much more expensive and time-consuming to research one's ancestors. After many trips to Ireland and years of research, however, I do have dozens of records of their births, marriages, areas they lived in, and family notices from newspapers. If the government would only make the records available at reasonable cost, online, they'd bring in far more money than anyone's willing to pay for certificates that tell us what we already know. We *know* we have Irish heritage, but some of us are still missing info about some of our Irish ancestors.