The Gathering not a scam but an opportunity -- Gabriel Byrne right on culture, wrong on The Gathering

Notre Dame fans arrive in Ireland among thousands enjoying what Ireland has to offer

First of all let me say that Tourism Ireland and The Gathering is a sponsor in several of our publications but I am trying to be as objective as possible about Gabriel Byrne’s recent comments calling The Gathering a scam.

I don’t believe that it is a scam but I do believe Gabriel has it right in several other comments he made about how the concept of the Diaspora is treated in Ireland.

Let me deal with The Gathering concept first. I know the people who came up with the concept originally, men like John Concannon of Irish Tourism and Tim O’Connor former Consul General in New York, and their advocacy for the importance of the Irish abroad is both far seeing and genuine.

I saw it working in the Notre Dame game in Dublin and the Tip O’Neill clan gathering in Buncrana, Donegal, both of which I attended in September.

Twenty-five thousand Notre Dame fans traveled to Ireland and got an overwhelming welcome from Irish people throughout the island. Sure, there may have been cynics about the whole enterprise, but the genuine welcome went very deep with the Notre Dame fans.

The Tip O’Neill gathering which I spoke at was more what the nuts and bolts of The Gathering is about. The former speaker of the house traced his ancestral roots to Donegal and the extended O’Neill family came in en masse, about 80 in all.

The locals joined in for a weekend that was poignant, fun and deeply meaningful for the O’Neills.

Read more: Actor Gabriel Byrne slams The Gathering as ‘a scam‘ aimed at gullible Americans

It was precisely the kind of targeted event, drawing on a local connection across the country, that The Gathering is intended to be.

Last year we at Irish America Magazine hosted our first Hall of Fame event in Wexford, right on the Quayside where Patrick Kennedy set off for America in Famine times. Our main honoree was Don Keough, former president of Coca Cola, whose great grandfather made the same trip from that exact spot.

To walk that quay with him, to visit the famine ship replica, was a deeply spiritual moment for him and the locals could not have been more welcoming and more informative about his ancestor’s journey.

That is what The Gathering promises to be to me, a series of events across the island of Ireland where locals draw on the genuine local historical record and reach out to their separated brethren across the Atlantic or indeed in England or elsewhere.

Where Byrne is correct is in his criticism of what happened to the cultural outreach from Ireland. Culture Ireland set up an extensive cultural program of Irish events across the United States.

Byrne served as cultural ambassador for two years and did his damnedest to expand the cultural footprint of Ireland over here.

Then the Irish government abruptly pulled the funding, ending the experiment long before it should have.

Byrne is also right that the return to roots of so many Irish Americans is a deeply spiritual journey and that there are some misguided Irish who scoff at the whole business.

They display an incredible ignorance of the ties that bind across the centuries for two countries that are inextricably woven together through emigration.

But I don’t think those folks who sneer make up the majority, no more than some gombeen politicians who see the Diaspora through dollar signs and little else do.

The Gathering is a step in the right direction in my book, not a scam, but an opportunity.

A glimpse of sun a powerful morale boost for Ireland -- Doom and gloom of wet summer suddenly swept away

The "Old Sol" shining on Dingle in County Kerry (Photo:EmeraldIslePhotos)

Well reader I took a drive from Dublin to Dingle, about 180 miles, on a glorious Sunday after the Notre Dame/Navy match and all was well with the world.

I'm not a particularly lucky person but over the years for some reason, whenever I go to Ireland the weather is usually good -- no matter the time of year.

The millions worldwide watching the Notre Dame game the previous day would have surmised that we were all living in sunny Spain.

The hot sun beaming across the Aviva stadium and reflecting back on the TV cameras made it seem like a Florida beach day more than an early September one in Dublin's fair city.

Rare is the sun over here this summer.

So rare that for a joke the other day I sent our Irish correspondent Patrick Counihan a picture of the yellow orb, otherwise known as Old Sol or the sun, just so he would recognize it if he ever saw it again. His reply was unprintable.

They have had the worst summer in decades but as I made my merry way through counties Kildare, Laois, Tipperary, Limerick, and Kerry, the sun split the rocks and kids and parents in shorts and T shirts were hell bent on making it to a beach someplace.

The Irish landscape in the hot sun is a summer Eden, there are few countries on earth that blossom so much in great weather and look so dull and dank in bad.

I stopped in a little pub somewhere between Tralee and Dingle to watch the All Ireland football semi final between Mayo and Dublin. Dublin were the overwhelming favorites and to everyone's utter shock Mayo gave them a footballing lesson. The locals in the pub, Kerrymen all, the most knowledgeable people on earth about Gaelic football, were plainly shell shocked

It was glorious to see as the unfancied Westerners showed the famous Dubs how it was done , racing to a ten point lead early in the second half.

They were so far ahead that I decided to drive on to Dingle, content that Mayo would get a crack at their first All Ireland win since 1951, when they faced Donegal in the final on the third Sunday in September.

The glorious uncertainty of sport is reflected in that pairing. You would have got 50/1 on that pair meeting in the All Ireland final at the start of the year.

Little did I know, right after I settled back in the car, happy as Larry, the radio commentary revealed a slight hitch in proceedings.

Between Tralee and Dingle it was white knuckle stuff as Dublin launched what would have been an incredible comeback that fortunately for Mayo just fell short as I drove into Dingle.

Dingle was its incredible self. My sister was waiting when I got to her house seven miles west in Ballydavid, a little village that looks out on the broad Atlantic and the grand sweeping vistas that make this one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Later that night a massive harvest moon overhung our little village and the quay was thronged with revelers and kids enjoying the Indian summer.

The local pub, Tig TPs, was doing a roaring trade, and the hot weather is set to continue this week.

As I said, all is well with the world.

Ireland has never seen anything like this Notre Dame invasion -- Dublin goes green as Fighting Irish fans feel right at home

Preparation of the Notre Dame pep rally in St. Stephen's Green

Live coverage of the game here on IrishCentral

Dublin: In the 125-year history of the Fighting Irish football team there has never been a weekend like this.

Four thousand miles from South Bend, 35,000 Irish have transplanted themselves in the heart of Dublin and indeed, all over Ireland, charming the locals wherever they go.

Walk along Dublin’s main shopping thoroughfare, Grafton Street, today and it seemed like a green invasion had begun.

In every store Notre Dame supporters and some Navy backers too, were thronging the aisles, looking for Irish bargains.

Outside the street performers were surrounded by Irish followers, and doing a roaring trade.

For many of the women shoppers, hurrying from one high-end store to another, this was their game day.

“I’m surprised I thought things would be cheaper,” Jane Byrne from Minnesota told me

”It’s easily as expensive – but it is far more fun,” she said.

All around her less discriminating fellow shoppers were buying up items like Guinness sweaters and Aran cardigans in all the usual haunts.

“It is busier than St Patrick’s week,” said the shop assistant in one.

It was the same story all over the country as the hordes of invading Americans, 35,000 in total, gave Ireland the kind of end of summer boost they could ever have hoped for.

Paddy Powers bookmakers opposite the Merrion hotel has been getting brisk business but not from the usual clients this week.

Americans are dropping in every few minutes the clerk said betting on their team to win in the Navy v Notre Dame game.

While I was there a Navy couple came in, seeking odds on Navy plus 15 points -- they got even money.
It is not news that bookmakers are winning but the Irish economy is getting a powerful boost too.

Earlier today I attended a reception at the American Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park. Out in his garden Dan Rooney, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, had his own football pitch where on July 4th every year there is a flag football game.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny dropped in to the pep rally at the O2 arena. 10,000 Notre Dame fans had crammed the arena and gave him a massive reception.

He called it the biggest overseas mobilization by any sporting team in American history.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrigg mentioned that Notre Dame has sold out every home game since 1964.

Over 300 performers were onstage between Irish and American musicians and band numbers for a finale that will not be forgotten.

A weekend to remember!

Wow!

Live coverage of the game here on IrishCentral 

Coming home with Notre Dame to Dublin; a trip of a lifetime -- A trip to remember as Ireland opens its heart to the 'Fighting Irish'

A group of fans of the University of Notre Dame American football team in
Galway's Eyre Square on Tuesday.Photograph credit: Joe O'Shaughnessy

Dublin: It is hard to miss that there is a Notre Dame/Navy football game going on here in Dublin.

There was not an empty seat on the Aer Lingus 109 from New York to Dublin last night as we joined the 35,000 mostly Irish fans who have flown from America in an unprecedented pilgrimage.

If you saw more green and “Go Irish” t-shirts per square foot than you’d see on St. Patrick’s Day, then you knew you were on the plane to the game.

You could hardly have missed it either as the Aer Lingus employees at the airport were decked out in Notre Dame caps in a nice touch.

Not that Navy was utterly outmatched. When the pilot announced as we closed in on Dublin that a Navy battleship was steaming into Dublin port right underneath us, the cheers for “Go Navy” were loud and raucous.

At the airport itself, Uncle Sam on stilts, perfectly kitted out in his red white and blue was there to greet the tired but eager fans as they poured off the plane.

A host of photographers and TV cameras closed in on the Irish Americans as they left the terminal. This game is big news here in Ireland and a massive boost worth an estimated $100 million to the ailing economy.

A large Notre Dame display in the main arrival hall at the airport added that extra touch to the festivities. This game has been organized expertly down to the last green balloon knot.

I had shared the flight with a couple from upstate New York who compared their trip to Ireland with the Hajj to see Mecca.

Lifelong Notre Dame fans, Bob and Ruth Murphy were living the dream as the plane decelerated and the Irish coastline came into view.

Neither had been to the Emerald Isle before but had been there often in their dreams. A sunny day sweeping away the wet weather that has plagued Ireland this summer awaited them.

“Perfect,” said Bob as he gazed out the window, as his wife slept. “A dream come true.”

The pilot announced that we were coming in over Mayo where Bob’s ancestral people come from so he felt right at home

At the Merrion Hotel, staff marveled at the enthusiasm and child-like happy faces they were seeing these last few days.

Notre Dame fans were in their second home and all of Dublin knew it.

The game has taken over the city and tickets on the black market are changing hands for $2,000.

The locals have embraced it. I had four messages from friends here asking about tickets.

It will be a wonderful occasion, like no other I have seen as the Fighting Irish take the field on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium a mile or so from here.

We can hardly wait.

Read more: For all the up-to-date news on the Notre Dame/ Navy Emerald Isle Classic click here