39 Comments

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• citizen69 | Nov 03, 2010, 02:31 PM EDT

  Yeah, what they're saying here is "Come home as tourists, spend a lot of money then clear off again!". If you are an ex-pat they've made it quite clear you sure as hell wont get any benefits from the government if you actually want to return home to live. Ireland only sees the diaspora as a cash cow and little else.

• GaelicPrince | Nov 03, 2010, 01:30 PM EDT

  Around the world? Hope you guys are not expecting the Irish women that married your "Good Dutch friends" that were or are searching for the Desendant Of Ireland. They won't be coming home! Sorry, never trush the dutch! They used to or still do marry Irish women and bring them to Newfoundland and 'Knock' them off for a thrill and blame the murder on "Needles cousin-in-law" to show they're good friends with no on other than Holland and maybe the Nederlands. I do my best to make my way to Ireland, but the Canadians, Dutch, British and the Dutch prevent me from going. I have Irish roots and would like to get to know Ireland.

• BallinaLass | Nov 03, 2010, 11:20 AM EDT

  I'd like to "come home" and stay! All I need is a big bag o' money to live on.

• Woodkern | Nov 03, 2010, 11:05 AM EDT

  No, it's always Lose-Lose when you scrape the barrel as Fáilte Ireland is doing. Again, they won't be able to sell to their targeted market by involving the black guy. The rest of us would see little appeal in what sounds like a summer-long St. Patrick's Day Parade comprising the same elements we so asiduously avoid when they invade our cities every March 17.

• ancavker | Nov 03, 2010, 11:04 AM EDT

  Hopefuly the Irish in Ireland will be a little nicer to us Irish-Americans if we come over.

• kell7757 | Nov 03, 2010, 10:46 AM EDT

  People people, it's called a marketing campaign. Come home -- and revel in all that is Irish -- win win -- see? You get to be all Irish for two weeks, and we get a fat infusion of cash. The catch - the two week time limit. After you've gotten your infusion of Irishness, and we've gotten our infusion of cash, we put you on a plane and send you on your way. It's not a "call to come home". They don't want you to stay!

• Woodkern | Nov 03, 2010, 10:19 AM EDT

  Knee, some of those same black people, born and raised in Ireland, are Irish citizens. Even those who aren't citizens, are culturally Irish, knowing no other country. The same Irish Constitution deems me to be Irish and I hold an Irish passport, though no reasonable person would consider me "Irish". Dublin could decide that I'm a pastrami sandwich if they choose, but that wouldn't change anything. Maloney, however, may have a point in exposing the weakness or total lack of demographic research on the part of Fáilte Ireland, even for a contrived demographic, such as "Irish"-Americans. A large number of those who so identify themselves would fit the O'Reilly-and-Hannity mold and would thus be repelled by a black president whom they somehow simultaneously believe to be a "Communist, Fascist, Atheist, Muslim Fundamentalist". Such folks are seldom well-traveled and Ireland would soon find that such visitors would require more "high maintenance" than they're worth. More thinking Americans on the other hand would cringe at "Gathering" of such and avoid Ireland altogether. Again, Fáilte Ireland should scrap this target of distant residual genetic material and make a more thoughtful and intellegent appeal. At the very least, they ought to try to convince Aer Lingus to stop treating passengers like cattle at exorbitant fares.

• kell7757 | Nov 03, 2010, 10:19 AM EDT

  Woodkern, It's no crime to be ignorant, but it is wrong to spread misinformation and act like you know what you're talking about. The laws of the US apply to the US and and not to other countries. Citizenship laws vary from country to country. Some countries, such as the US, do have birthright citizenship, and many do not. Ireland is one of those countries who do not have birthright citizenship. Each country has the right to enact its own laws based on its own perspective and culture and values. Countries outside the US are in no way obligated to adopt American laws or values, and it would be wrong to attempt to impose on on other countries. It is right to respect the laws of each country and not to simply assume they should make their laws similar to the US's. That is the very attitude that makes Americans unpopular globally.

• kell7757 | Nov 03, 2010, 10:12 AM EDT

  Woodkern If you're just another generic American with no sense of their roots, then why come to this website, which is for people who identify themselves as Irish American. And by the way, nice racist Irish American stereotype there, how very open minded of you.

• sirpeter | Nov 03, 2010, 10:10 AM EDT

  Don't get any ideas Georgdildo,It's not for special needs people

• BrendanPKeane | Nov 03, 2010, 07:08 AM EDT

  Good idea. Kind of like an Irish עלייה or aliyah, the Jewish homecoming to Israel. Being Irish will not last as a genetic thing. Irishness is about the language and culture and history. When a diaspora person discovers their Irish history, they may return to Ireland physcially, but the real aliyah, is returning to the language.

• WoundedKnee | Nov 03, 2010, 04:49 AM EDT

  seamusmoore: I agree with a lot of what you say. The guy who said "we have lost our sense of Irishness" was certainly right, though I believe that's because as many as one in five (much more, if you just count the hotel/restaurant sector) are not even Irish. It's horrible to go up to a receptionist desk in a remote and magical part of Ireland and be greeted by the monotones of some blond Polish woman. And you're a bit selective in your value of dollar/euro. I've been following the dollar for almsot 30 years now, and the period when it rose to well over the euro was a very short and untypical one. I'd say a euro/dollar value of 1.25/1.35 is in keeping with the history of the dollar versus Irish punt and euro in the past decades.

• WoundedKnee | Nov 03, 2010, 04:42 AM EDT

  Woodkern said "FYI, there are black people born in Irish, and hence ARE Irish." This shows how little Woodkern knows about Ireland. Being born in Ireland does NOT make you Irish. That's obviously true--would a child born to a woman who gives birth over Ireland on a flight from Delhi to Washington be Irish? Utter nonsense. But more important than what I say is what the Irish Constution says. It explicitly denies automatic citizenship to someone just because they happen to be born there. We should follow suit here in the US and clamp down on the abuse of our birthright citizenship.

• Ajreaper | Nov 03, 2010, 01:25 AM EDT

  LOL, many of you just like to complain, pretty much about anything. Its a marketing theme/campaign and every country, region, state or province etc does it- Good Lord it must be surely depressing for folks who have to be around some of you on a daily basis- nothing but complaining.

• maloney | Nov 02, 2010, 11:08 PM EDT

  obama, you want him? Done deal. Please keep him.

• seamusmoore | Nov 02, 2010, 10:40 PM EDT

  A clever marketing gimmick by Failte Ireland, but sadly doomed because tourism to Ireland has greatly fallen for 3 reasons: 1) the adoption of the Euro in 2000 stripped the Central Bank of Ireland of its ability to control inflation; as a result, Ireland now has one of the highest costs of living in Eurozone. In 1997, Ireland had the lowest cost of living in the Eurozone. It has become an expensive place to visit. 2)The weak dollar has made US tourism to Ireland much less attractive as a destination. In 2000, 1 euro was .80 dollars; it is now $1.40. Your vacation is 40% more expensive. 3)A publican in Killarney told me that "we have lost our sense of Irishness: the land of cead mile failte" (hundred thousand welcomes)doesn't exist any more". As a frequent traveler to Ireland, it gets tiresome to answer questions about US foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and the Palestinians. Many Irish remind of the globalized version of the village biddy, overly concerned about matters that really don't affect them. As for 2012 Navy vs Notre Dame game in Dublin, I find it somewhat ironic that the "Irish catholic" school is playing in the "Proddy Palace", Aviva Stadium (formerly known as Lansdowne Road), where rugby and soccer are played. Then again, perhaps that is appropriate given there are rugby and soccer teams and facilities at Notre Dame but that the national games of Ireland (hurling and gaelic football) are nowhere to be seen. Even more disgraceful is that history curriculum in Irish studies doesn't even mention these games and their role in Irish independence; for example, Michael Collins was recruited into the IRB by Sam Maguire who he met thru the GAA.

• Woodkern | Nov 02, 2010, 10:38 PM EDT

  Lostgold, louts such as yourself make me glad that I don't identify as "Irish"-American. FYI, there are black people born in Irish, and hence ARE Irish. Those "real ruddy-complexioned and blue-eyed" loud-mouthed morons from the suburbs who come here for their annual piss-up along Fifth Avenue were born an ocean away from Ireland... and hence are not "Irish". I agree that the President should avoid involvement, not because he's Barack Obama, but because the Presidency of the United States shouldn't serve as a backdrop for this tasteless gimmick from Fáilte Ireland.

• Conjoly | Nov 02, 2010, 10:28 PM EDT

  Agree with George and Woodkern. These ideas are so tired, it's boring. You don't have to have an Irish great, great granny to be interested in Irish culture.

• lostgold | Nov 02, 2010, 09:26 PM EDT

  In favour of the idea but crap to have Barack Obama kick it off. Why not someone famous who is really Irish.Why not someone with a real ruddy complexion and blue eyes who really looks Irish. What is the matter with people in Ireland anymore have they got excreta between the ears or what?Whatever happened to Kelly with the bright red hair. Lets race-mix and adulterate and call it freedom.

• Dublinjas | Nov 02, 2010, 03:52 PM EDT

  Does Pig like Cowen really think he'll be there next St Patrick's day ?

• Dublinjas | Nov 02, 2010, 03:50 PM EDT

  Will they be allowed to sign on the dole ??

• GeorgeDillon | Nov 02, 2010, 03:04 PM EDT

  What is the Irish Diaspora? Is it the million or so irish people living abroad? Or is it descendents of Irish people who emigrated? There might be 50 million of these, if you go back the generations, but many if not most have no interest in Ireland. In any case this "The Gathering" project is pure baloney.

• Woodkern | Nov 02, 2010, 02:57 PM EDT

  Good grief! My birth certificate is on file downtown on Worth Street in Manhattan. I was not "dispersed" here! Ireland, in part, is a nice place to visit, but it is not "home" and going over is not going "back". If Fáilte Ireland dropped this sentimental crap and focused on cultural tourism, they would get a higher quality of tourists, of every creed and color, perhaps with even more euros to leave behind.

• Ajreaper | Nov 02, 2010, 01:32 PM EDT

  LOL, well when the announcement is made I'll be in Belfast-getting a jump start on it ;)