Martin McGuinness calls on Northern Ireland to take part in tourist initiative “The Gathering”

I've only been able to afford one trip to Ireland and so my family toured the whole island. I would think the same would be true of many people returning for the Gathering. I had a chance to visit the Ireland in 1967 as a student but my parents forbade it because of the newspaper articles about the Troubles. I think that current stories about new unrest in the North would be the only thing that would keep visitors from enjoying all parts of your beautiful home.

Seanmor, I appreciate that as an American, you can be forgiven for not undersanding the term 'Ulster Scots.Allow me to enlighten. The majority of people in the north east of Ireland,ie the six counties, or 'Northern Ireland',or 'Ulster'(neither of the latter two designations being stricly accurate by the way-but we'll let that go for the sake of brevity),are largely descended from inpoverished Protestant Scots (and a much smaller number of poor English) settled there by the British, as a deliberate policy to displace the native Irish. It follows therefore, that the incomers, and their descendants, did not, and do not, consider themselves to be 'Irish'. They regard themselves as being 'Ulsterman'-a misleading term since three of the nine Ulster counties are in the Irish Republic-Eire-(formerly 'The Irish Free State')They proudly acknowledge their origins to be Scottish,indeed, be in Northern Ireland on 12 July, and you're left in little doubt as to where they came from!!! With respect, you may not have heard the term 'Ulster Scots', but that is precisely what they are. I hope this provides some explanation.

Northern Ireland, eg. the United Kingdom is having its own gathering this year for the Olympics. Scotland had homecoming last year.

Seanmor, Scotch is a whisky. The correct terminology in areas where Ulster Scots settled in the US is Scots Irish. Ulster Scots terminology is the terminology used this side of the pond, fyi.

McGuinness has a very good idea about tourism, but the term "Uster Sots" is unfamiliar to mmost people. During my fifty plus yeras in this country -2½ years in military bases in the Carolinas - I mever met or heard of an Ulster Scot. The most famous of this group was probably President Andrew Jackson, who became a member of The Hibernian Society (not to be confused with the AOH). Jackson never identified with the British, as he proved at New Orleans. Some historians claim that the tern "Scots-Irish" hardly existed befor the arrival of the Famine victims in the late 1840s. Prior to that, immigrants from all parts of Ireland seemed to consider themselves Irish. However, there is no shortage of SCOTCH IRISH an either side the pond nowadays.