Gabriel Byrne says the Gathering is a scam.

squod

He also said Irish-Americans are not receptive to being "shaken down" for money.

It seems the rest of us indigenous Irish are.

Judgement Day

Madam wrote: »

Ah, so the naysayers are 'messengers'?:D Never in my life have I come across another nation who run themselves down as much as the Irish - those that still live there that is! You almost never hear of people who live and work outside of Ireland doing the same, if fact 'most' of them wouldn't hear a bad word said about the place they come from(well except for the price of the drink that is:)). Instead of moaning about the country why don't you 'messengers' think up some ways to improve your lot in the world - it doesn't help to alway be on the offensive by the way.

Thanks but I've been there, done that and got the negative bank balance for my efforts. While I was doing my bit the scum in FF and their cronies were looting the state. Those worthless scum were replaced by a new set of wasters at the last election but little has changed. Gabriel Byrne, like Bob Geldof before him, calls it as he sees it.

Death and Taxes

Nest thing you can expect is a Bord Failte promotion,
For every 30 visitors to the gathering get 3 free certificates of Irish heritage, but hurry because when they're gone, they're gone!

ejmaztec

Madam wrote: »

Ah, so the naysayers are 'messengers'?:D Never in my life have I come across another nation who run themselves down as much as the Irish - those that still live there that is! You almost never hear of people who live and work outside of Ireland doing the same, if fact 'most' of them wouldn't hear a bad word said about the place they come from(well except for the price of the drink that is:)). Instead of moaning about the country why don't you 'messengers' think up some ways to improve your lot in the world - it doesn't help to alway be on the offensive by the way.

If someone from any other country criticised Ireland in any way though, they'd be strung up from the nearest tree.:D

iguana

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Have I created Jobs.

I've created as many as Gabriel Byrne.

I doubt that very much, tbh. There are quite a few very successful Irish actors, Byrne is one, Gleeson most certainly is, along with Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell, who consistently work on low budget, relatively badly paid Irish movies in order to promote the Irish film industry. Hundreds and hundreds of people (many highly skilled in specialised areas) get to work in Ireland when they'd otherwise have to move to London/Cardiff-Swansea/North America in large part because of the actions of actors who do this.

al28283 wrote: »

Are they only advertising this in Ireland? I live abroad and have never heard of it before today.

I've certainly never heard of it in Wales.

mongol

I'm tired now.

Invite someone to visit next year or the year after and help them enjoy their visit or ... don't

Ellis Dee

Ellis Dee wrote: »

They've got a hell of a nerve., and Gabriel Byrne is quite right to call bullsh1t on their latest attempt to hoodwink the people.:rolleyes:

Successive Irish governments have relied on emigration as a safety valve to relieve the pressure that might have led to real change in this country. Those who departed were largely left to fend for themselves. Until the advent of the Internet, they were mostly hopelessly cut off from meaningful contact with or news about their home country. The government didn't even provide a shortwave radio service.:mad:

But those who succeeded, often against all the odds, in foreign fields were expected to contribute some of their wealth and their abilities to the "auld sod", as though they owed it anything.:rolleyes:

I have Finnish citizenship and, even if I never set foot in Finland again for the rest of my life, I can still go up to the embassy in Dublin and vote in all parliamentary, municipal and presidential elections as well as in any referendums they arrange. They even serve coffee and biscuits and thank you for doing your "duty as a citizen".:) Why can't Ireland show its citizens abroad the same respect?

Why should Irish people abroad give a sh1t about some phoney "gathering" that the corrupt ruling elite here arrange? If that same elite really cared about our citizens abroad, it would treat them they way Finland treats me - with respect for me personally and for my views.:cool:

But that will never happen, because then the wasters that have ruined this country would be swept into the cesspit of history.

Where they belong!:mad:

Some brilliant posts on this thread that i 100% agree with but that above is top notch altogether. Take a bow.

Tombo2001

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gabriel-byrne-ran-up-16000-expenses-bill-in-cultural-role-3291006.html

This is really bad form by the Indo.

€16k in expenses doesnt put him in the ha'penny place.......if it was €160,000 then maybe.......but €16k - when he wasnt being paid for his work......FFS.....

And as one of the comments says; even worse form by whoever in the govt/ administration leaked it (assuming it was leaked)...

Does anyone know if this would have been publicly available anyway?

Chips Lovell

Leaked? They're hardly a state secret that can't be disclosed. Public representative's salaries and expenses are not confidential.

Ex Bouncer

The Gathering, The Fleecing, The Fooling, The Gouging, The Begging, The Scratching, whatever you call it, its a nonsense idea, if I could get out of this country, I wouldn't come back for any reason.

Tombo2001

Ex Bouncer wrote: »

if I could get out of this country, I wouldn't come back for any reason.

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gbee

I mentioned earlier that it was and ad campaign.

Well on radio yesterday RTE morning programmes, [Sun 11th Nov] it was said that Gabriel's comments had not done any harm and in fact raised awareness so it was a job well done and Thanks, Gabriel.

Jaysoose

Tombo2001 wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gabriel-byrne-ran-up-16000-expenses-bill-in-cultural-role-3291006.html

This is really bad form by the Indo.

€16k in expenses doesnt put him in the ha'penny place.......if it was €160,000 then maybe.......but €16k - when he wasnt being paid for his work......FFS.....

And as one of the comments says; even worse form by whoever in the govt/ administration leaked it (assuming it was leaked)...

Does anyone know if this would have been publicly available anyway?

The indo is a shocking rag at times....16k for the publicity a guy with byrnes profile generates?? thats buttons.

crusher000

Jaysoose wrote: »

The indo is a shocking rag at times....16k for the publicity a guy with byrnes profile generates?? thats buttons.

Un believable tripe alright. We have County Councilors spending that in six months never mind two years. Did they expect him to a. Do the Job for free ? b. Pay them for getting the position.

Ha ha 16K? Thats what i would call a Hollywood actor slumming it tbh

Judgement Day

I wonder how much others, including Tourism Ireland/Failte Ireland executives, have racked up on "The Gathering" gravy train. :rolleyes:

long range shooter

poeticseraphim wrote: »

Tourism is actually up from many countries. And let me tell you the Scandies LOVE Ireland...for the RIGHT reasons. They love our scenery. They are very into the outdoors. It is a market perfect for us no gimmickry needed. Scotland does very well out of that market. My Norwegian friend loved Ireland. She loved the walks and was not put off by the weather coming from Norway. .

Are you sure,i am Norwegian living in Ireland,i wanna go home;):D

ilovesleep

How much money is being spent on this at promoting it, etc

And yet they can't throw a few bob in at bringing the volvo ocean race back to Galway. If the news articles is anything to go by it will not be coming. There are many galwegians now abroad and the volvo is something that they want to come back for on holiday.

Nippledragon

We should just rename the whole Irish political system the Muppet show.

The gathering? Jesus fúcking wept....Another bollocks initiative to milk people out of more money, the bloody cheek of them. If they had an ounce of bollocks or common sense between them they would have stood up for the Irish people and taken back all of the pensions from Tugboat-Harney, Bertie etc, besides coming up with stupid ideas like the gathering.

aman121

Apologies if anything I have to say has been said before or if my sarcastic humour offends !

I agree with Gabriel Byrne. It is a bit cynical.

As a child of Irish emigrants to the UK, like most of my schoolmates with Irish parents, summer holidays meant a grim 9 hour ferry trip, and two or three or four weeks visiting granny and grandad and the relatives, generally in the rain.

At the start of new term our English schoolmates regaled us with stories of Spain, Florida, Disneyland and suntans.

Meanwhile we gave the same two answers, a week in County X with granny on our mums side and a week in county Y with granny on our dads side. It was fun sometimes. And sometimes not. Enjoyment wasn't the point. It was simply a duty.

Our parent's generation had saved all year and all that money went into the Irish economy.

At the time, Aer Lingus totally ripped the piss out of the Irish in Britian. Hence the 16 hour coach trips. Funerals were always the worst. A sudden death, and given the fact in Ireland the funeral was 2 or 3 days later, the people of my parents generation had a new ars*h*le ripped for them by Aer Lingus, or simply didn't attend the funeral. And those of that generation that were in USA or Australia ? Forget it. Once every 10 years.

In the 90s and 2000s, as families thinned through death, and Ireland became "middle class", a great many of the older generation in the UK, the Irish in the UK, started to became somewhat cynical about the annual holiday to the place of their birth. While they were going back to see the relatives, sometimes the relatives had pissed off to Spain or Greece ! With everybody going middle class, rather everyone packed together in a small house in the spare room or sleeping bags, sure there is a nice new B&B's up the road. At 50 and 60 euro A NIGHT. Two weeks of that alone would pay for a sunny package holiday. Never mind the price of things like drinks and meals costing more than in the swankiest West End of London, that anyone in the UK would blankly refuse to pay at home on the principle that it was a absolute rip off.

For the cost of making the effort of going to Ireland to visit they could go off to the sun for a third of the price. And some did. It's not an exaggeration to say that while one of Ireland's biggest industries was tourism, people involved in Irish tourism, other than Michael O Leary, seemed to be doing it's very best to destroy tourism by pricing themselves out of the market. One place in the middle of nowhere I stayed in over 3 decades, I have paid, E25 in the 90s then E70 in 2000s, and last year, E25 again ! Why ? It didn't have as much as a lick of paint in those years, if you wanted to stay local, well, there was little choice. Why did they charge E70 ? Because they could get away with it !

So now, it just feels, a bit like, oh forget the 90s and 2000s. Sure it's just like the old days again. No, you didn't see VIP magazine. No, all those Irish people with fake orange tan, and blonde hair turning up on British reality shows making fools of themselves in the pursuit of fame. And 3rd division boybands hoping to get a bit of the Westlife market ? The mercs and beemers ? The trashy Hello Magazine style weddings in castles ? No, all that must have been a figment of your imagination.

No, no, no, no, see, we all wear Aran jumpers and ride donkeys, and sit in village pubs with flat caps drinking Guiness, reading Yeats and playing traditional music. Sure come on back.

AND DON'T FORGET TO BRING SOME STERLING OR DOLLARS WITH YOU !

Am I a cynical bas7ard ?

maninasia

What about bringing the young people back! Will somebody please think of the young people for the love of God (says I tongue only slightly planted in cheek).

Emigration was what, 80,000 last year, what about getting our people back.