G Byrne did not call it a scam he repeated what had being said to him.I worked in the hospitality sector for several years and i know that an event like the gathering will be hijacked by greed leaving a bad taste in the mouths of visitors to our shores.

GB is right about one thing: the gathering IS all about money by getting tourists to Ireland to spend money. simple as.

They should hand out flyers for the gathering at Dublin airport on January the 4th and 5th. They’re get a great reception . In fact they should bring Bertie and the banksters with them to witness first hand the heartache they have imposed on people.

The phrase “Rip off Ireland” wasn’t just penned yesterday. We have had a recession in this country for the last 5 years, yet we are still slow to roll back the cost of living. The man is right, greed in Ireland still breeds and we are a million miles away from friendly welcoming Ireland.

Wasn’t it Michael Noonan that said emigration’s a lifestyle choice! If the truth were to be upheld, the government are delighted with so many people leaving these shores. Just imagine what our unemployment rate would be if they weren’t. So for the same government to start begging the same people to come back and spend hard earned money only reeks of hypocracy. Yes, it’s a scam,

If we want the Irish abroad to do something for us, why don’t we do something for them. Like helping them to get legal in the us. Too many people in the states can’t come home.

Clan? Really? Thought that was just some auld diddley-twee we rolled out to the yanks? The Gathering seems to be an attempt to force tourism rather than actually step back and see why tourists aren’t coming of their own free will

If the visitors are guaranteed discount rates for accom and food and get reasonable fuel tax refunded then and only then will cynicism end.

It’s….rob your relations. Some countries provide special low hotel rates for visiting diaspora, e.g. Philippines. But knowing the irish, they will provide special high rates for same. I shed no tears for an industry that robbed us for years.

The Irish diaspora should be told that any money they spend here won’t benefit Ireland one bit.. it’ll fly directly into the pockets of banksters and bondholders! wise up

No Doubt, the gathering will be spun as a huge success although there is no instrument to measure the success, no projections, targets or budgets.
It’s a lot of moist air and finger crossing.

I’m with GB.

Its not a bad idea in itself, but do also see the scam in it also. On a personal note I’ll hoping to be using it to meet with family I haven’t met before and reconnecting after years of disconnection. People and general note if there was that much care and regard for the diaspora, then why can’t they be given citizenship? I’ve been attempting to gain citizenship for a while and may have to go down the route of naturalization which does not do me justice whatsoever considering I’ve always felt Irish.

“It’s not about money”. Ha.

It’s a money making scam full stop!

Just maybe to answer a few of your questions and to address a few of your comments .
Firstly , I’m not a Journalist & I don’t do pamphlets for Tourism Ireland .

I’m a 61 year old living in Tralee , in the same recession that everyone else is living in.
One thing I learned years ago , during a previous recessionary period in Ireland – & there have been many in my working lifetime , is that we cannot rely on someone else to dig us out of recession . While all the negativity and bemoaning will never help me provide food & a home for my Family – we must ourselves alone be prepared to get off our fine Irish asses and rebuild our own economy – starting in our own homes, Towns & parishes.
Four generations ago , on my mothers side, all but two of her fathers family had to emigrate just as today. Then they were on a life sentence of mainly never having the benefit of being able to return home – even for a visit, in those days.
What is different nowadays is that four generations later, then can hop on a plane or a ferry & come back to the districts of their forefathers.
My experience too , is that they are not mean or bloody minded about their fathers or even their great grandfathers memories of Ireland.

They are damn proud of the forefathers & their Country !

If they fill the hundreds of thousands of bed nights available in our multitude of hotels and guesthouses – is that bad for the employment and the economic situation too? – I somehow don’t think that’s a bad thing either ?

Hope some of you at least enjoyed the little article ? & come to Kerry for the holidays too !

Nice to see that the Shannon game of “fleece the tourist” has gone national, Gabriel Byrne is on the money, Yanks have always been good for fleecing by exploiting the love of anything Irish the idiots have.

If the government wants to do something for the diaspora they would bring forward legislation to allow our emigrantas to vote in national elections. Until they do that the “gathering” is a money spinning racket and nothing else.

I think Dr.Sinnott has rubber stamped the release

If local community groups remain focussed then this opportunity can be harnessed for the benefit of local people and the ‘diaspora’.

The aim in the rural community that I hail from hopes to re-establish links with those who have lost connection with their birthplace. They like many others feel they would be isolated and not welcomed if they returned. There is a feeling that most of their old connections/relationships are now dispersed and that there is no reason or positive in returning.

In running a week long event in our community, the hope is to offer a focal point for locals as well as those from overseas to meet and re-connect.

I like many others have said that the sound bites by tourism bodies regarding bringing so many people to Ireland is hot air. Therefore I understand where Gabriel Byrne is coming from.

There always was going to be an attempt to turn this into a money making excercise by commercial business, but that should not deter local groups from pushing ahead with their plans which in most cases are for the right reasons.

Thats right Enda.
Bill the very people whom you betrayed.

By the way, how many Fine Gaeler’s kids have to emigrate??

“The three people he spoke to were negative about it, but what about the 97 per cent that are positive about it.”

Erm, so this affects one-hundred people and you’ve spoken to 97 of them?

am I missing something here? since when is pushing tourism not for the sake of money? what about that visot california home of the stars ad? or the scottland ones (taste it, smell it etc.)? or aussie ads? or cyprus the island for all seasons? what is the issue here? the rest of tbe world (including the us) do it so why is gabtiel byrne so wound up? (genuine question!)

Even if it was a terrific idea I wouldn’t be able to join in. In the best of times I dreaded the American visitors coming home as it always ended up costing me a fortune. It’s very expensive to keep people in your home and even more expensive to take them out and about when they are in no hurry to put their hand in their pocket. Now I’m not knocking them and I believe that Americans are extremely generous when you are visiting them but I havn’t been able to afford that. Like GB I wish everyone involved the best of luck but I won’t be participating.

what about employment? i can only volunteer for so long while waiting for my social welfare!
over 25weeks and still waiting and volunteer in museums and with Ireland reaching out? what more do people need to do?

byrne is right. i emigrated, and i find the use of the term “diaspora” offensive. i left because i was subject to economic and social exclusion.

the idea that emigration is a wholly free choice which diaspora conjures up is bs. majority of irish abroad were and continue to be exiles – from the famine right down to enda and co.

and if i didnt have family reasons to be here, id still be in the us where at least you can fool yourself into believing that some degree of social justice is possible. here in ireland, i dont think so. government is foul, and sad to say, its what the country deserves when you look at the passivity and idiocy everyday.

I agree with this article. Tourism has always been a good way to generate income for an economy (everywhere, not just in Ireland). I watched the news yesterday evening and even the Americans in Dublin who were interviewed didn’t seem to understand the begrudgery. As they said themselves: if people want to visit Ireland next year, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. So when people who have links to Ireland are deciding where to go on holidays, why not promote Ireland as a potential destination.

Being a tertiary sector industry, tourism provides employment not only in its own sector, but also trickles down to the secondary sector:

People will stay in hotels, employing service staff. They will eat at restaurants, employing service staff AND generating revenue for agricultural sectors. They will take public transport, visit museums. They will visit ancestral hometowns, providing money and jobs to people all over the country.

I do not understand why people moan about the country not having money, yet when an attempt is made to generate a bit of an income for us, those ideas are still shot down. If you don’t like the idea, come up with a better one. Sometimes I feel like I’m reading the comments section on the Daily Mail website.

judging by the comments recently and not just on this story the Irish people are no longer believing in the tripe pushed out by the civil servants and told to lump it…,
the Irish electorate has been through a living hell and not likely to just sit back and accept the status quo..
I for one am glad to see this seismic change
This event is a lame duck period and the fact that such a high profile person as GB has spoken out against us proof that all is not well on that front.
No smoke without fire…
.

I agree with all that’s said as I posted yesterday it’s a great opportunity for everybody to make a contribution to assisting our economy get back on its feet.
God knows we need all the help
We can muster .
Maybe Gabriel had a bad hair day!

He is not a bad fellow and I know he has done great work in the past for Ireland and several charities!

This reads like a press release.

I’m going home for a family wedding next year. I will simply be happy if an expensive trip to a very expensive country is not made even more expensive by price gouging. I fear I will be disappointed but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Hello Eddie your family seem to have plenty of money can they send some to me so I can bring my sister and her kids home from Australia as my nephew is going to be 4 in 2 weeks, he’s my Godson and I never met him but not for the want of trying…

Just scrap the idea – and any others that might give Ireland a boost – and let us, as a nation, wallow in our self pity, anger and sense of entitlement until our fairy godmother shows up and fixes it all. FFS, It’s just a decent marketing tactic, not much different than ones dreamed up by other countries. Don’t see why we can’t let it be and see how it pans out. It’s not going to cost us anything to try. Talk about shooting down an idea before it gets off the ground.

Ireland is USELESS. A gathering of uselessness is not what this country needs. Its just window dressing. From the country’s incompetent leaders to the fools who vote for them. It needs to fail. Fall off a cliff and start again with some dignity and honesty attached. It’s a lost society with everyone grabbing what they can,while they can. For themselves and their friends. There used to be something to be proud of when you spoke about the Irish nation. Something and usually someone worth fighting for. It’s not hard to see how most people living here today, working or not, are simply prisoners of the state. Unfortunately greed and misuse of power has spread like a cancer of the mind and it all needs to be cut out before any of us will be really free.

I would like to point out that this whole The Gathering idea started when the Notre Dame v. Navy sold out and where most of the tickets were bought overseas. The amount of money this people paid for the hotel rooms flight tickets etc is enormous. Of course Te Gathering is lasting for whole year and hotels can’t put up the prices for the whole year, but when somebody will finally come up with idea of one big centralized event those prices will go up. And Americans as they do will not mind it at all. Great money making machine.

I cant understand the negativity about The Gathering,
“Ireland will open its arms to hundreds of thousands of friends and family from all over the world, calling them home to gatherings in villages, towns and cities. Communities throughout Ireland will showcase and share the very best of Irish culture, tradition, business, sport, fighting spirit and the uniquely Irish sense of fun.”
Why would any of you disagree to any of this happening? What actual difference will it make to YOU? Anyone that will come home for the event already knows its going to cost them money. They aren’t being forced home and have a mind of their own if they dont want to attend. As for the people here complaining about it. Why ? what way is it going to effect you?

Clans? turf-cutting? sorry, maybe it’s a country/city thing but the whole thing smacks of cheap blarney to me. This is 2012 not 1812. The Notre Dame thing seemed equally tacky to me. Dancing leprechauns – no thanks.
It all seems very US ex-pat orientated as well.

Sure, they should be giving incentives for the ‘diaspora’ and those who host them. Tax breaks, voting rights or whatever, but as a long term thing, not a quick shakedown as it can appear at the moment.

Come to Ireland and be robbed,raped and ripped off,its the gathering

Sounds to me that Gabriel didn’t get an invite yet. Cheer up it’s in the post Gab!….

“ordinary people who are trying to rebuild Ireland” What rubbish

Michael Ring says “Well look it, I’m asking them to put the green jersey on.”
I thought that we had put that sheeplike attitude – and its disastrous results – behind us but obviously not.

If any of the gathering-haters would like to propose an alternative, I’m all ears.

So, if the argument against is that hotels would fleece the tourists, why aren’t people:

A: Naming & shaming those who’ll be/ are doing the fleecing.

B: Offering & promoting those who are *not* doing the fleecing?

Or do you look at what the Greek people are doing and wish “gee, I wish we were on the streets throwing Molotovs like them. They’ve the right idea!”

yeah …let the great ‘diaspora’ that the govt is so proud of actually vote in elections here if they are of so much value.

of course the govt doesnt care about their views unless they accord with blarney whitewashing and the usual self serving ‘ah sure its grand’ mentality

yes it is a scam and an insult to the Irish who had to emmigrate due to the trash management of the Irish economy.

Gabriel Byrne should keep his negativity to himself, we have enough here in Ireland. If the gathering brings one extra euro into the country and helps one family come closer together for one minute, then it has to be considered a success.

Have to say I agree with Eddie on this! Tbh any visitor who comes to Ireland at this moment in time gets unbelievable value in terms of room rates, food and indeed our beloved drink especially when compared to other euorpean countries and indeed the US. Room rates in Ireland are among the cheapest in Europe and for the standard of Hotel you get its fantastic value. 3 & 4 *Hotels in Dublin city centre for 80 euro a night. Same Hotels would be hundreds of dollars in US.

It’s so frustrating! All these negative attitudes have the country the way it is! Let’s embrace it and welcome anybody that wants to visit our beautiful country! For once let’s all pull together! We all have our part to play in making this country great again!!

This gathering 2013 is just a PR exercise for the FG/LAB politicians to try to claim they are making inroads to the unemployment line which their policies have added to.most of the hotels are Nama owned and the cost of the rooms will still be expensive compared to other countries in Europe.

Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly

What happens in 2014 ? Perhaps we get the Chinese diaspora to come !

Of course it’s about money talk about stating the obvious…..HELLO we’re broke!!!! any money is good money we complain when they do nothing we complain when the do???

if I resident in the US working at the moment, or to put it another way -if I was forced into exile because of the continuing mess/politics of the greed here, I would look around me and ask, why can american’s living in ireland vote back home to decided their country’s future, but i can not?

I would ask why does my government back home want my money and assistance now, when they couldn’t wait to starve me out when I had no money, and when they took pay rises and protected the rich and their bondholder friends, and who knows some of them are probably bondholders too.

The truth hurts and Gabriel Byrne has hurted more than a few.

Colm -please explain why and how Gab Byrne is a begrudger -what does he begrude – the ambassodor’s job that he already had?

Wake up -he is giving us the view from the other side of the water.

That is the new spin trick now. Anyone who stands in your way is just ‘negative’. No attempt to counter the points they make against your daft ill-conceived scheme. Just a dismissal of their ‘negativity’.
See it from the point of view of the visitors next year. What are they gathering for? Who are they gathering with? When? It is utterly meaningless and hollow and hasn’t any hope of influencing travel or spend plans. If they are coming here in 2013, it will be for their own specific purposes on their own terms, not an empty marketing seasonal campaign thought up by people who had to be ‘seen to be doing something’ in the face of plummeting numbers.

Hello Eddie your family seem to have plenty of money can they send some to me so I can bring my sister and her 2 kids home from Australia as my nephew is going to be 4 in 2 weeks, he’s my Godson and I never met him but not for the want of trying…

He’s 100% dead on the money. Irish people treat Irish-American’s like rubbish and then they want them to come over here to spend their money? They have some balls.

Byrne was right! Just admit it?!?!

Gabriel Byrne obviously is a begrudger. He was not chosen as one of the celebrity ambassadors. This is a great opportunity to boost tourism investment and bring Irish people together. Gabriel it’s not about you SFO

In the old days people just sent a few bob …and stayed put where they were settled. forgive me for saying this Mr Stack but I know some Stacks and they have not been invited. May I ask what political party you are in/support. The Gathering is the most stomach churning Oirish crap I have ever heard about, while FG/Labour hunt down the poor and the frightened they assume they can scam their distant relatives into buying into some cheap bauble of crappy greeness that anyone will buy into except perhaps for the Fine Gael branch of the Stack family from “Stackstown”. What activities will you host? Count the dingle-berries on the unclad, unshod Natives? Look after the people who are in Ireland before you start this crap

here is a good video on The Gathering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wt9CiM5KdA

If

Gabriel Byrne is entitled to his opinion and fair play to him for saying it out loud… the Gathering looks like a load of tourism/political inspired nonsense, it sounds like something a bunch of Bord Failte marketing spivs would come up with after canapes and cocktails in the local wine bar. “Yeah boys, lets get the ‘diaspora’ to come back so our tiger era built hotels, over expensive pubs and restaurants, cowboy airlines and ferry cartel can rip them all off ‘pure genius’. Clan gatherings, cultural fiesta’s blah blah. ie Lots of overpriced drink, the local ceili band outside the pub and Luigi’s burger van parked close by for ‘authentic’ Irish food. €5 million isn’t a lot in the overall tourism budget and I haven’t seen anything advertised in the UK for this momentous ‘Gathering’? Here’s a couple of question’s: will those local communities so eager to re-connect with all their lost emigre’s be doing anything for all the elderly Irish men and women who left in the 50′ and 60′s, many of them now living alone in awful conditions and poor health in the cities of the UK, US and other places, the old Irish guy’s drunk out of their heads at 9am around Paddington station or Leicester Square, will they be welcomed to the Gathering? Will all of these volunteers be welcoming all those ‘Plastic Paddy’s’ or ‘little Tan’s’ as our kids are so often called when they do go ‘home’. Sorry folks but the whole thing smacks of the wrong kind of opportunism and just comes across like a sorry attempt to try and squeeze a few quid out of the guillible mainly our American friends I might add, most Aussies and Europeans are bit more clued up and less prone to the ‘sentimental clap trap’ that so infects our American cousins. (I blame Hollywood) Will the ‘businesses’ who will gain most from such an enterprise be doing their part? What will they be providing for this great ‘re-connection’, will the air fares be reduced?, the ferry prices cut?, the hotel rates dropped?, the ridiculous prices in pubs and restaurants reduced?. I think we all know the answers to that! It’s all a bit ‘begorrah and bejayus’. The same ‘diaspora’ especially those who have recently had to leave are ignored and abandoned by the same politicians who are pushing this ‘Gathering’, if the diaspora is so important, how come Irish people living abroad don’t get to vote in Dail elections or even mickey mouse presidential elections, how come when Irish people do or have to return home they are treated like foreigners in their own country by the social welfare, i’m sure there are many good people out there who are giving their time as volunteers for this event and all with the best of intentions but as with all things Irish, and call me a cynic if you like but experience tells me it will be hijacked by various parties who will seek to exploit it to their own ends for their own profit and gain and the ‘diaspora’ will be just a cash cow to milk for all they can get out of them, it’ll be interesting to see how much the one’s who are likely to make the money out of it give back to the enterprise, you can be pretty damn sure about one thing… they won’t be out of pocket. That’s the one’s who can afford to get there of course, I have a funny feeling the less well off of the ‘diaspora’ won’t be getting any ‘cead mile failte’s’ and “bualadh bos’s” down the local pub or GAA club!

Toss thought up by tossers for tossers.
http://www.creativeireland.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34865