TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
Good Practice
1 Title of the practice
IRELAND REACHING OUT
“There’s no strength without Unity”
2 Location (country, region/municipality)
Ireland: West Region…South East Galway
3 Contact information
Mary Molloy: mmolloy@galwaycoco.ie
Nuala Mullarney: nmullarney@galwaycoco.ie
4 Other interesting information (website, documents with www link: reports, presentations,
events etc.)
http://www.irelandxo.com/about
www.thegatheringireland.com
5 Details of the practice
5.1 Origin (organization etc.)
The Ireland Reaching Out (Ireland XO) project is based on a simple idea; instead of waiting for
people of Irish descent to trace their roots, the organization works the other way. Working
through voluntary effort at a townland, village and parish level in Ireland, those who left through
emigration are traced along with their descendants worldwide. The Ireland Reaching Out
organization then proactively engages with them and invites them to become part of an extended
“virtual” community with their place of origin. In this way, the entire Irish Diaspora of 70 million
can be systematically reunified online and invited back or to engage with their ancestral parish for
the benefit of all. The national pilot project of Ireland XO was developed in South-East Galway
within the West Region.
5.2 Timescale (implementation period, continuous + starting time)
1st October 2010 through to 31st July 2011
5.3 Financing (budget, sources)
Ongoing funding from Public/Private Sources
5.4 Legal Framework (if applicable)
Ireland Reaching Out is a registered company limited by guarantee, with charitable status,
registered under the Companies Acts and is managed by a voluntary Board of Directors. The
project is based in Loughrea, Co. Galway and is staffed on a full-time basis by 5 employees. It is
assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of 10 members.
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
5.5 Bodies involved in implementation, partners
Ireland Reaching Out is sponsored by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, The Heritage
Council, Galway County Council and Failte Ireland with the support of the GAA and private
Sponsors such as The Atlantic Philanthropies, The American Irish Fund, Google and An Post.
5.6 Target groups, beneficiaries
In a world where millions of Americans, Australians and British people are trying to find their Irish
roots, the aim of IRO is for the roots to find them. By tracing, using technology, genealogical
records and local enthusiasts, the IRO team in east Galway has created a link to the past for
hundreds of members of the Irish Diaspora. In 3 parishes alone 44,000 Diaspora were identified
world-wide. Half of these are in the 55+ age group. The benefits to local communities are very
considerable, opening up new economic opportunity, resources and international networks, and
energizing communities at home.
6 Precise theme/issues tackled by the practice (problems/challenges/why this project?)
Through the Ireland XO project, local communities are identifying, inviting, and welcoming back
members of the Irish Diaspora throughout the year, establishing what are hoped to be lifelong
enduring connections and relationships between members of the parish Diaspora and the parish
communities of their ancestors. From its beginnings as a pilot project in South East Galway,
Ireland Reaching Out has shown how ‘reverse genealogy’ can engage the Diaspora to bring real
social and economic benefits down to parish level.
7 Objectives of the practice
The main objective of the project is to develop the technology to enable every parish in Ireland to
participate in this initiative. Over the life time of the project, the project had three main aims.
First, to identify and engage 44,000 people outside the country who have direct links with the
identified parishes in South-East Galway. Second, the pilot project attempted to attract 25 or 30
of these people home to their parish or town land of origin. The third goal was to identify, among
the 44,000, approximately 500 enterprising members of the returning emigrants who can be
buyers, advisers, investors and influencers for the benefit of not just the locality but the Irish
nation as a whole.
8 Connection to developing ageing tourism
The project held an inaugural “Week of Welcomes” in June 2011, inviting back members of the
Irish Diaspora to their parishes of origin in South-East Galway, mobilizing over 500 community
volunteers in the process. The initiative has been praised for its innovative use of technology,
community volunteerism, and professional organization, and received substantial coverage in
national and international press including RTE, BBC and the New York Times. Statistically 85% of
those returning were retired and aged over 55 and the vast majority of the 500 community
volunteers were also retired. It had a direct connection to developing aging tourism.
9 Evaluation (demonstrated results: indicators, success factors, difficulties, lessons learned)
The Pilot Project has been so successful that a national “Ireland Reaching Out” Diaspora Project
has recently been launched and is expanding across 2,500 Irish parishes North and South. The
project has also won the top prize for “Best Community Project” in the Ireland recently at the
prestigious LAMA (Local Authority Members Awards) ceremony and has been cited for its
originality, popularity among parishes and volunteers, and its potential to scale across the
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TOURage Good Practice for Senior tourism
CULTURE AND HISTORY
country. It has led indirectly to another Government backed tourism Initiative called “The
Gathering” which is due to take place in 2013 and is an all encompassing event to attract the Irish
Diaspora back to Ireland. It comprises many stakeholders, partners and supporters, including
Government departments, State bodies, local authorities, local development companies, private
businesses, the global Irish community and the tourism industry. The initiative is also fully
supported by Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland.
10 Transferability of the practices (to other country, region, municipality: is it transferable?
already transferred? possible constrains and possible success factors to be taken into account?)
The GP is transferrable without problems especially to those regions that have had a similar
experience of mass emigration over the centuries.
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