Gabriel Byrne again slams The Gathering and Arthur’s Day

Oh bloody fecking hell! Give Byrne slack!! :/....He doesn't deserve to be disrespected! All Gabriel has ever done is serve Ireland like a 'loyal' Irishman he is! Gabriel has always been for the people over the government! He likes 'connecting' with people...Gabriel's words are bloody brilliant....so true!!

"Gathering", "Diaspora" etc. big con job. Where was the Irish government when we desperately needed jobs at home? Now they need us. Yeah, right I'm heading to the Caribbean instead. This is a gathering of $€£¥. Gabriel Byrne has it right!

Byrne is talking the usual bullshit we get from the likes of Sinead OConnor ,Bono ,Geldof and all the usual self-promoting egoists ! When he ceased to receive money as an "ambassador " for The Gathering he starts bitching .Ireland like any country in the world is absolutely correct to create a tourist marketing initiative and many prople only need a little reminder to arrange areturn visit for a holiday .Some of your contributors seem to think that they were the chosen ones and all the world owes them ! Irish people for generations have left home ,travelled the world and remained proud to be Irish .What is wrong with you lot ,and your bitter negatitivy ? Sinead OConnor

The Grovelling is a digraceful cynical ploy to get money from people that were forced to leave their homeland & families due to corruption & stupidity of Irish Society.

now I get what byrne's attack is about - Pushing Guinness' poison on an already programmed people this coupled with diaspora caring while natives care for blowins more than self. This and the craving for awards from occupier - such that many donna know who they should side with.

Olovely - well said. Funny, I never felt part of anything before and now I am part of. "Diaspora" and invited to a "Gathering" no less." They were quick to push us out the door back in the day and now they remember us? Sure. It feels like being invited to a family reunion when the family hasn't bothered with you in decades! Not a good feeling. It's a gathering of $€£¥

Hmmm, we need an edit link, sometimes the comments don't appear the way they're intended. *An Baililúchán

I agree with Byrne, Ireland needs a real relationship with the Diaspora. They can't just ask us to fork out and then show us the door like they did in the past. We're in a new globally connected world now, it's about time they recognized it.

Maybe it would be more popular if they called it An Bbaili

I agree with Gabriel, Ireland is one of the few countries in the world that does not allow its expats to vote. As soon as you're out of Ireland you lose that right. The UK allows its ex-pats 10 years of voting rights from when they leave, France even has an MP specially for expats! I'm Irish living abroad and I'm friends with many expats from different countries. I'm the only one I know of who has to suffer my 'countrymen' telling me that I'm not entitles to an opinion on Ireland anymore because I left. Any comment I make on Ireland is met with derision. None of my Italian/French/German etc friends suffer this when they visit their home countries.

Seamus60; have you ever been to the USA; you bollox? You really put a stigma on the Irish.

While clearly but anecdotal evidence based upon limited personal experience, I still wonder as to your posit, Seamus60. Each time that this Yank product of the diaspora visits a home in either West Cork or Dublin, certainly it's the cup of tea that's offered but that comes only after the offer of "A drop". A drop that might legitimately fill anywhere from 3 to 5 shot glasses at any American bar.

Oh, Gabriel, it's a bit of fun to toast Arthur. Where's your sense of humour? We surely need it here in this gloomy economy.

I agree with Gabriel Byrne.

If the Irish Government dedicated more time to legalizing 30,000 undocumented Irish emigrants in the U.S., they would have an gathering every yearthat would certainly help with recovery of a shattered ecomony.