2013 The Gathering

kerryjack

Its easy to dismiss it as a joke and something that only the Irish would get a way with it , like when everything else fails lets have a party ,but if every one gets behind it, this might prove a bit of a lift and have a little fun while we are at it. An invite back to the old homestead for a few days is a great draw for long lost relatives and I have certainly sent out the invites and the fattest calf will be killed or at least sold to fund my week on the beer . Its in all our interests to try and lift this country out of the **** its in, so lads and lassies lets get the pen out and do your bit.

Muckit

F**k this bringing people back lark.... if every community came together for a big bash themselves.

bob charles

Im having a gathering in the bog, have invited friends and family home for the footing, no sore back for me next year

bob charles

Muckit wrote: »

F**k this bringing people back lark.... if every community came together for a big bash themselves.

but sure that happens most weekends, around me they usually include a fight aswell after the bash just to get back to their primitive roots

Manoffeeling

We should be gathering ourselves to protest at the bank bailout and the corrupt, unethical mentality of this and previous governments. Gathering my hole.

kerryjack

bob charles wrote: »

Im having a gathering in the bog, have invited friends and family home for the footing, no sore back for me next year

A day in the bog i forgot to put that on the invite they would go mad for that.

Maudi

Manoffeeling wrote: »

We should be gathering ourselves to protest at the bank bailout and the corrupt, unethical mentality of this and previous governments. Gathering my hole.

bell enda kennys "grabbing" me arse..i wouldnt ask any of my lads or their familys back here to be ripped off in the "grabbing"nor have their friends come or be conned by this farce..lol..lol

Doom

Why in the name of God would I ask any relative of mine to come to Ireland to be ripped off at every opportunity, by restaurants, pubs, taxis and hotels and everything in between them.....keep your money cuz....I'm coming to see you

wesleysniper38

bob charles wrote: »

Im having a gathering in the bog, have invited friends and family home for the footing, no sore back for me next year

I've got 4 acres of Ragwort that you could tether an ass to. Gonna have my "gathering" in August to pull them all. It shouldn't be hard spotting them on the flight back. They'll be the ones with the green smelly hands...Now you can't get more Irish than that!

Min

I think it's a load of rubbish, people will come if they want to come, the Gathering is a scam to try and get people to Ireland to get their money. That is the government's objective.

Bizzum

Doom wrote: »

Why in the name of God would I ask any relative of mine to come to Ireland to be ripped off at every opportunity, by restaurants, pubs, taxis and hotels and everything in between them.....keep your money cuz....I'm coming to see you

Wouldn't think Mordor's a walk in the park;)

kerryjack

Muckit wrote: »

F**k this bringing people back lark.... if every community came together for a big bash themselves.

The community is getting smaller and those that are left are crippled with high taxes, large mortgages and expensive child care, and not much left over to party in the end of the week . The people in the community works in the hotels, pubs, shops and drives the taxi's that tourists use. I don't know the figures, tourists to jobs ratio but tourism is a big part of our economy

Muckit

kerryjack wrote: »

The community is getting smaller and those that are left are crippled with high taxes, large mortgages and expensive child care, and not much left over to party in the end of the week . The people in the community works in the hotels, pubs, shops and drives the taxi's that tourists use. I don't know the figures, tourists to jobs ratio but tourism is a big part of our economy

And what... bring them all back to stay in the NAMA hotels??

Manoffeeling

kerryjack wrote: »

The community is getting smaller and those that are left are crippled with high taxes, large mortgages and expensive child care, and not much left over to party in the end of the week . The people in the community works in the hotels, pubs, shops and drives the taxi's that tourists use. I don't know the figures, tourists to jobs ratio but tourism is a big part of our economy

Is that you Leo?

Squ

Min wrote: »

I think it's a load of rubbish, people will come if they want to come, the Gathering is a scam to try and get people to Ireland to get their money. That is the government's objective.

How else are they going to fund next years ipads?

Tipp Man

The only thing I will say is what harm can it do. Either financially the country will gain or the morale of the people will improve as they meet long lost relatives and have get togethers etc

deelite

The idea of inviting people over is what I (and probably most of you) have been doing for the past few years. I can't afford to go out with friends to pubs / restaurants so we "gather" in each others homes and eat and drink - we're all in the same boat - broke.

If a relative comes over from abroad they're more than welcome to come to my home for drinks and food but I wont be bringing them for a night out in the city - couldn't afford it.

stateofflux

was in town last night...€20 for a ticket to dame st.... gtfo..organisation was raggle taggle...potential hillsborough around stephens green/grafton after fireworks ended...

Sam Kade

I know what gathering I would like, gather up all the politicians put them on a rocket with a one way ticket to outer space and the further out the better

bbam

This is a poor attempt by the government to improve our outlook. Really, their getting paid vast sums of money, multiples of the average wage, and their best thing is a year long piss up, invite anyone we can back and squeeze money out of them...

And what's the bets that the prices of hotel rooms will rocket in places there are big events on... pull them in, throw up any old shiite, and bleed them dry, that seems to be our motto.


Personally I wouldn't be involved in any of their "arranged piss up's".

It would suit them better to use the money theyre robbing from the pension funds for some real job creation ideas, and not just "schemes" to force people out into short term no hope public schemes..
Develop some real jobs and the hard working people will bring the economy back..

A simple example:
Was talking to an ex employer and he still can't get lads off the dole for 6-8 week contracts, they won't come off the dole as after 8 weeks their back at the beginning of the assessment and its too great a risk.. How hard would it be to have a simple system where lads could sign off for 8 weeks and then slot right back in where they were.. It would discourage black market work. He was telling me that every one of the men he asked offered to work for cash on the side and keep drawing.. He let the job go in the end as he wouldn't get involved in that crap! that was 6-8 weeks work for 6 men in our locality, real hard spending money and revenue on their tax, lost through inefficiently run systems..
Still... lets organise another piss-up :mad:

Sam Kade

I heard Kenny on the radio today with a whinny voice raving on about the jobs that will be created :rolleyes:

fastrac

I was at Cork Airport and it was more like an evacuation than a gathering. Sad to see . The Gathering wont do much for our recent emigrants im afraid.

20silkcut

bbam wrote: »

This is a poor attempt by the government to improve our outlook. Really, their getting paid vast sums of money, multiples of the average wage, and their best thing is a year long piss up, invite anyone we can back and squeeze money out of them...

And what's the bets that the prices of hotel rooms will rocket in places there are big events on... pull them in, throw up any old shiite, and bleed them dry, that seems to be our motto.


Personally I wouldn't be involved in any of their "arranged piss up's".

It would suit them better to use the money theyre robbing from the pension funds for some real job creation ideas, and not just "schemes" to force people out into short term no hope public schemes..
Develop some real jobs and the hard working people will bring the economy back..

A simple example:
Was talking to an ex employer and he still can't get lads off the dole for 6-8 week contracts, they won't come off the dole as after 8 weeks their back at the beginning of the assessment and its too great a risk.. How hard would it be to have a simple system where lads could sign off for 8 weeks and then slot right back in where they were.. It would discourage black market work. He was telling me that every one of the men he asked offered to work for cash on the side and keep drawing.. He let the job go in the end as he wouldn't get involved in that crap! that was 6-8 weeks work for 6 men in our locality, real hard spending money and revenue on their tax, lost through inefficiently run systems..
Still... lets organise another piss-up :mad:

Yes what we need is real job creation.

We are naturally a hard working people most of us. We prove this when we go abroad and have proved it in the past here at home.
This talent is being completely ignored.
We went after the easy money during the boom ( some of us).

We closed down factories and proposed building apartments and estates in their place. This what was proposed on the sites of the carlow and mallow sugar factories, absolute ludicrous stuff ,sacrificing an entire industry and a hardworking way of life for a few lousy apartments that were needed even less after the closure of these factories. These developers had their heads stuck firmly up their holes.

Now we have this gathering, a half baked vague notion once mentioned in one of David McWilliams documentaries which has now been transposed into govt policy.
It really is scary beyond belief that this is the level of thinking. That this is possibly the only job creation show in town for 2013.


This won't make one s.hite of a difference to the hundreds of thousands long term un employed in this country who will have f.uckall to do with this gathering

It is so transitory and fleeting and may give a slight bounce to all these zombie Nama hotels but it will be very temporary and won't make a difference to most of us. The yanks are under fierce economic pressure too and even at the best of times they spend little and eat of the same plate as each other and share a pint of Guinness between 20 of them

Muckit

20silkcut wrote: »

and share a pint of Guinness between 20 of them

20c a gulp now..:eek:

royalmeath

Its a bit like Enda and Noonan have been watching the episode of father ted
when Dougal was driving the milk float with a bomb attached to it.
"Is there anything to be said for saying another mass".

This country is a joke
Our taoiseach earns more than 200000 a year and gets horsed around in a brand new merc. If these men were true patriots they would work for 30000 per year until this national emergency is over. Would Enda object to being driven around in a diesel mondeo that would cost the state a fraction of a merkel mobile. We are all suffering is the cry of the politicians.
What a pack of Wa**ers they all are.

whelan1

2 points, wtf, enda kenny is the third highest paid leader in the eu:eek::eek: also just spent the morning in drogheda looking for a confirmation outfit for the eldest, we where in around 10 shops, the staff in some of these shops are so rude , talking to each other bout christmas etc, in 2 shops i had to actually butt in to their conversation to ask them something, almost felt like i shouldnt be in the shops.... was a lovely elderly man in another shop that cloudnt do enough for us even though he hadnt nothing to fit our lad.... manners cost nothing, seriously if they want peoples business they need to remember who keeps their shop open

freedominacup

bbam wrote: »

This is a poor attempt by the government to improve our outlook. Really, their getting paid vast sums of money, multiples of the average wage, and their best thing is a year long piss up, invite anyone we can back and squeeze money out of them...

And what's the bets that the prices of hotel rooms will rocket in places there are big events on... pull them in, throw up any old shiite, and bleed them dry, that seems to be our motto.


Personally I wouldn't be involved in any of their "arranged piss up's".

:mad:

The figure I heard recently that sums your point up best was in relation to repeat visitors. We have a very low return rate less than 20% from memory whereas places like southern Europe, ski destinantions have return rates higher than 80%. We don't have value here end of. There's a hundred reasons why we don't have value. I don't know which came first the lack of repeat visitors or the scalping of visitors because they would only come here once. I certainly couldn't afford to holiday here and that's with Irish tourism having a €1400 headstart on where I'm going this year. (air fares)

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

2 points, wtf, enda kenny is the third highest paid leader in the eu:eek::eek: also just spent the morning in drogheda looking for a confirmation outfit for the eldest, we where in around 10 shops, the staff in some of these shops are so rude , talking to each other bout christmas etc, in 2 shops i had to actually butt in to their conversation to ask them something, almost felt like i shouldnt be in the shops.... was a lovely elderly man in another shop that cloudnt do enough for us even though he hadnt nothing to fit our lad.... manners cost nothing, seriously if they want peoples business they need to remember who keeps their shop open

If Enda had even a shred of shame, decency, leadership or conscience he would cut his salary to €100,000.
When he can come on the TV or radio and justify his salary I might listen to him. Until then the man is a loss to me. Filling in the time until we get a proper leader. My fear is we don't have the making of a decent leader for our country within any of the political parties.
Politics in this country is dead. We will never create a recovery. Our leaders are sitting back waiting for a global recovery and hope that through the multinationals we gain from the global recovery.

The gathering will serve nothing but to promote hou visitors will be gouged if they come to Ireland. While it will generate more visitors during this year I'm certain the following years will see drops in visitors as the news of real Ireland is spread far and wide.

wesleysniper38

Muckit wrote: »

20c a gulp now..:eek:

Thats cheap stout Muckit if you can knock 21 gulps out of it!!

I worked abroad and in the UK in the late 80's and early 90's. Like a lot of others I missed home a lot in the beginning. As the months turned to years I realised just how little opportunities existed in this country. Unless you were prepared to grease the palms of several persons in positions of trust then progress was non existent. They could have held 100 Gatherings and I wasn't interested. The perception of this country was we thought everybody loved us because we were Irish but the leadership on this little island down the years has been a collection of clowns.
I missed the family and the craic but damn all else. I worked my ass off but had to come home due to circumstances unforseen. I'm lucky enough to have carved out a niche here and I have the farm to keep me occupied.
But as far as the Gathering is concerned: I'm on Gabriel Byrnes side...Total Tripe.

maxxuumman

whelan1 wrote: »

2 points, wtf, enda kenny is the third highest paid leader in the eu:eek::eek: also just spent the morning in drogheda looking for a confirmation outfit for the eldest, we where in around 10 shops, the staff in some of these shops are so rude , talking to each other bout christmas etc, in 2 shops i had to actually butt in to their conversation to ask them something, almost felt like i shouldnt be in the shops.... was a lovely elderly man in another shop that cloudnt do enough for us even though he hadnt nothing to fit our lad.... manners cost nothing, seriously if they want peoples business they need to remember who keeps their shop open

Slightly off topic, but this is a major bug bear of mine. Go around the globe and you won't find the ignorance and incompetence that you get in most shops and restaurants here in Ireland. Unless you are dealing with a shop owner, the service you get in this country is, by and large attrociace. The first thing that should be done in "project gathering", is that everyone that serves customers, should be sent off for training in manners and in the product they are selling. Second, the minimum wage should be got rid of for these jobs and be replaced with a tip system. Say what you like about the Americans, when you go into a shop, you get served and served well.

whelan1

maxxuumman wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but this is a major bug bear of mine. Go around the globe and you won't find the ignorance and incompetence that you get in most shops and restaurants here in Ireland. Unless you are dealing with a shop owner, the service you get in this country is, by and large attrociace. The first thing that should be done in "project gathering", is that everyone that serves customers, should be sent off for training in manners and in the product they are selling. Second, the minimum wage should be got rid of for these jobs and be replaced with a tip system. Say what you like about the Americans, when you go into a shop, you get served and served well.

have another one i was actually:eek: at this one, we where in local pub, we go there once / twice a week for food, there was a new manageress working there, the youngest lad started coughing and we wanted to make a quick exit incase he got sick, the new manageress said get him out quick i am not cleaning it up.... i was raging as if he had of gotten sick, i would have cleaned it up, there was no sympathy towards him what so ever, after us spending 70 euro... she was sacked a week later

Muckit

maxxuumman wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but this is a major bug bear of mine. Go around the globe and you won't find the ignorance and incompetence that you get in most shops and restaurants here in Ireland. Unless you are dealing with a shop owner, the service you get in this country is, by and large attrociace. The first thing that should be done in "project gathering", is that everyone that serves customers, should be sent off for training in manners and in the product they are selling. .

I would have to agree 100%...... and this crack of 'are you alright there?'....WTF!!??? :mad: :mad: :mad:

pakalasa

Well, if you get rid of the poor people. Send them to Canada, Australia, wherever....and get in all those rich people, shake them down for what their worth....Brilliant when you think about it.

bogman_bass

whelan1 wrote: »

2 points, wtf, enda kenny is the third highest paid leader in the eu:eek::eek: also just spent the morning in drogheda looking for a confirmation outfit for the eldest, we where in around 10 shops, the staff in some of these shops are so rude , talking to each other bout christmas etc, in 2 shops i had to actually butt in to their conversation to ask them something, almost felt like i shouldnt be in the shops.... was a lovely elderly man in another shop that cloudnt do enough for us even though he hadnt nothing to fit our lad.... manners cost nothing, seriously if they want peoples business they need to remember who keeps their shop open

except for the small independent retailer, customer service has gone out the window in this country, it really has. If you go into a shop like the one you mentioned you want to spend money there when you feel you've been treated right

whelan1

bogman_bass wrote: »

except for the small independent retailer, customer service has gone out the window in this country, it really has. If you go into a shop like the one you mentioned you want to spend money there when you feel you've been treated right

yup shop where we bought, took the clothes off the display model in the window for us, couldnt have been more helpful

hugo29

whelan1 wrote: »

yup shop where we bought, took the clothes off the display model in the window for us, couldnt have been more helpful

Don't get me started on shops, was in symths before Xmas, one of the shop assistants walked past,as she did I said excuse me, at this point she had her back to me, I could tell by her posture she rolled her eyes shrugged as if I shot her then turned with this fake smile, can I help you

Politicians are all gangsters but we vote them in that's the sad part

periodictable

You want emigrants to come back here and spend their hard earned money?
First, give them full voting rights, like most other countries. Even the most repressive regime in Egypt allowed ex-pats to vote in a general election.
Not a damned penny until there is full participation offered to the invited, AND accountability from the monkeys and gombeen men who desire that cash.
Nothing comes from nothing

kerryjack

For me this is all about trying to get a few extra heads in to the local town and keep it going. I am not too bothered about kenny and his cronies, they are only mumpets and we all know who are pulling the strings what i am bothered about is will our local hotel stay open and our shops and pubs ,etc . Its all local down here.

wesleysniper38

hugo29 wrote: »

Don't get me started on shops, was in symths before Xmas, one of the shop assistants walked past,as she did I said excuse me, at this point she had her back to me, I could tell by her posture she rolled her eyes shrugged as if I shot her then turned with this fake smile, can I help you

Politicians are all gangsters but we vote them in that's the sad part

Theres a generation who were spoilt rotten in their formative years by the false comforts of prosperity to which they grew accustomed.
These brats now have to graft at a wage of 8.65 an hour and feel hard done by. In my first job I worked the initial 6 months for nothing in order to gain experience.
Manners, empathy and understanding towards our fellow citizens were almost annihilated by the pursuit of greed.
When things were flying high the Foreigners had to wait on our tables and mop the floors of our public ameneties. Now that the country is frigged we begrudge them even these menial occupations.

Manoffeeling

kerryjack wrote: »

For me this is all about trying to get a few extra heads in to the local town and keep it going. I am not too bothered about kenny and his cronies, they are only mumpets and we all know who are pulling the strings what i am bothered about is will our local hotel stay open and our shops and pubs ,etc . Its all local down here.

No thanks. Any surplus money I get goes into travelling ABROAD. There is more to life than slobbering over inflated pints in the back stabbing local pub.

kerryjack

Manoffeeling wrote: »

No thanks. Any surplus money I get goes into travelling ABROAD. There is more to life than slobbering over inflated pints in the back stabbing local pub.

3.60 for a pint of Hino or 3 for a tenner down here there is nothing inflated about that. Like John B Keane said one time a day out of kerry is a day wasted

Upstream

Tipp Man wrote: »

The only thing I will say is what harm can it do. Either financially the country will gain or the morale of the people will improve as they meet long lost relatives and have get togethers etc

I agree with Tipp Man, there's not much to loose and plenty to gain from giving it a go. We need to do something. So why not try it?

Good manners and a good attitude cost nothing and since we're short of a few bob those are the kind of solutions we need to go for.

pakalasa

wesleysniper38 wrote: »

Theres a generation who were spoilt rotten in their formative years by the false comforts of prosperity to which they grew accustomed...

I think there is a lot of truth in that. I think a lot of those who have gone to Australia have got a bit of shock, when reality hit them there. Commuting long hours for hard earned money.
I've heard a lot of them came back saying, it wasn't worth their while.

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

I think there is a lot of truth in that. I think a lot of those who have gone to Australia have got a bit of shock, when reality hit them there. Commuting long hours for hard earned money.
I've heard a lot of them came back saying, it wasn't worth their while.

until there is a radical overhaul of the social welfare system in this country nothing will change, people dont want to work as they are being well paid for doing nothing... i hae to bring one of the kids to the doctor again today, will be at least 60 euro, so i will have spent 300 euro in 2 weeks on doctors/meds while my neighbour pays just for the script this country is so wrong

Sadderday

if the gathering is actually going to happen and we are actually expecting irish people to come home for a party or whatever... there should be an incentive.... discounting flights at least... its a disgrace to ask people to come home when airlines will use the opportunity to hike up their prices, might be good for Ireland or whatever, but snap out of it

Sadderday

big bag of balls anyway if you ask me

whelan1

Sadderday wrote: »

big bag of balls anyway if you ask me

yup and who is paying for it

Sadderday

whoever is organising it should have gotten the finger out and made it handier for people to get here.

if you dont agree with that your off your rocker

Sam Kade

hugo29 wrote: »

Politicians are all gangsters but we vote them in that's the sad part

Nothing sad about it as it was a choice of which gangster will I vote for

Noffles

i was going to slag this poxy Gathering thing off... but I see there's no need, the majority of people seem to be of the same opinion.. a total waste of money and very little thought put into how the money could of actually been spent...

It all sounds so desperate, as someone pointed out, it may provide a boost this year but it'll cause word to spread and wreck the next few years... Ireland needs far more than a pissup!

Sadderday

yeah yeah true that, and us irish want us a boost so we may aswell sting the irish abroad to help us out.

everybody stall it home, where aer lingus will rip you off, hotels will be booked out and prices will be sky high.. maybe your mammies will put you up... then again, the lodgers are in. the weather will probably be cr'ap, the pint has gone up, and you should probably avoid O'Connell street cos its gone awful kippy.

Have a ball spending your money here!!!