Getting back to their roots at Shannon

OLD and new strategies can bring a new generation of Irish-Americans through Shannon in search of their roots, according to independent councillor James Breen.

“There are 10 million people under 25 years of age who declare their ancestry as Irish according to official census returns in the United States. These are people who have grown up with pride in their Irish heritage and who will certainly welcome a chance to experience the culture of their ancestral home. These represent an enormous new market just waiting to be tapped and we need action from the very top to go about it,” the former TD declared.
While enlisting the support of fellow county councillors in calling on the Tourism Minister Martin Cullen and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin to spearhead a major promotional campaign, Councillor Breen is convinced that a series of initiatives can also be undertaken at Shannon.
Acknowledging that capacity into Shannon on US flights this year will again be down, he is urging a return to the US charter movements, which were a key part of Shannon traffic when he worked with Aer Lingus in the 1960s.
“We need packages to be assembled and sold to charter and tour operators which are geared to appeal to the target Irish-American market,” he said.
“We also need action on the ground at Shannon which will add a special dimension and emotion to landing here. In the baggage reclaim hall where all passengers have to wait and so have a little time on their hands, Shannon should have giant “Welcome Home” banners and signs. The hall should also be decorated with outsize enlargements of the maps of Ireland, which indicate the concentrations of various Irish family names. A big screen would also be worthwhile but Irish-Americans would get a special sense of belonging by searching out and pinpointing where their ancestral strongholds are located,” he continued.
In step with promotion of “special interest” group charters, Councillor Breen wants the most up-to-date techniques to be adopted by setting up a major website based on the “Roots” campaign which won Shannon Development international plaudits in the second half of the 1980s.
“The vast array of thoroughly researched material on the origins and development of Irish families and the landmarks associated with them must be in the Shannon Development archives and forms a readymade basis for a new trace your roots campaign because the historic material does not need to be updated,” he explained.
The upcoming St Patrick’s festival provides the ideal springboard for an all-out effort to bring home to the new generation of Irish-Americans, the richness of their Irish ancestry, Councillor Breen contends. “Every mayor going out from the Shannon Region to participate in the high-profile focus on Ireland on St Patrick’s Day should be equipped with material and be sending out the same message – come home to Ireland and Shannon. Where possible, the same message should be going out from our ministers and ministers of state who will be honoured guests in the US,” he said.