It’s a long way from Clare to Clare

THERE was a meeting of the two Clares at this year’s National Tourism Conference in the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon last weekend as the Mayor of Clare and Gilbert Valley in South Australia, Allen Aughey, spoke of the tourism potential between the two locations.
Mr Aughey, who spent a week travelling in the locality, has stressed the need to stop forced emigration and develop tourism links with the huge contingent of Irish Australians, particularly those from County Clare who emigrated to the Clare Valley.
Speaking to The Clare Champion at the end of his stay, Mr Aughey said, “I know there are huge economic issues and I sympathise but the Irish nation and people will prevail provided they have the right leadership. This is a time when leaders and politicians need the support of the people. This is a team effort and in times of strife, it is pointless attacking the leadership. People of a nation need to overcome differences, bolster support links and you will prevail over economic difficulty. If you don’t, the people who suffer are the young people and this causes me a lot of concern and this is something we see in the Clare Valley because I am meeting more and more young Irish people working over there,” he said.
He said the extent that young Irish are emigrating is an all too familiar topic for those in the Clare Valley, many of whom were forced to leave Ireland out of necessity. Mr Aughey said he would hate to see this type of mass emigration again and is calling for it to stop.
“It is a concern that young Irish are emigrating. Emigration from Ireland has been an affliction for years and I want it to stop. It needs to stop. We are happy to provide a safe haven for young Irish to earn and get jobs but, ultimately, Ireland does not want to be in a situation where emigration is involuntary. I think that ought to be an objective of the nation itself. Draw a line, no more forced emigration and whatever it takes that is what you should aim to achieve. I’m not saying to turn off the tap of visitors coming to Australia completely but I’m saying it should be by choice, not necessity,” he stressed.
Mr Aughey was in Clare on an invitation to address the tourism conference in Ennistymon, an event that he found extremely valuable.

While at the conference, he gave a speech on the two Clares and the challenges that both, here and in Australia, are facing in the tourism industry, particularly focusing on issues around local government authorities.
He stressed the need to be different and to offer a different tourist product for travellers. He believes Ireland has that unique factor.
“You need to be different and be able to provide a point of difference in a world that’s increasingly being the same and that was the theme of my speech. This is what is most important that Ireland is a tourism product and I don’t like to describe it that way. We don’t want this homogenised world to greet our tourists. Tourists are looking for a point of difference, a point of experience and to gain something, an experience, a pleasure or knowledge from travel,” he said.
“I think Ireland is unique in the world. It is a wonderful destination and as much as the environment is fantastic and the history is fantastic, the gem of the Irish tourism industry is the charm of its people. When I check into a hotel, I want to hear the lilt of the Irish dialect. I want to feel like I am in Ireland and as long as you can retain that, you’re halfway there,” he added.
He believes Ireland has huge tourism potential for Australians but it is just a case of getting Australians to realise that and what he felt he got from the conference was the huge untapped potential there is for tourists to Ireland in his home Clare and Gilbert Valleys.
“I’ve discovered huge potential for Australian tourists to visit Ireland. I assumed that it was a fairly well developed destination for Australians but I found in a particular presentation that occurred at the weekend that the greatest source of tourists to Ireland come from Great Britain and America. In fact, if my recollection is accurate, Australian tourists didn’t even figure in the top eight sources of tourists to Ireland and that really surprised me because I thought we would be up there. Even though we are a low population country in world standards, with 23 million people, we have a huge percentage of that population that have a degree of Irish ancestry, so I would have thought it would be higher. I’ve learned a very valuable fact and I will go back and I’ll spread the word. There is huge potential for Australians to visit Ireland,” he continued.
One of the things he stressed to tourism providers at the conference was the township of Clare in the Clare Valley was named after this very county and, according to Mr Aughey, this valley has “every rightful claim to be the Irish capital of Australia”.
“Our ancestry is so pure and established that I have no embarrassment of making that claim. We were named by our founder, who was Edward Burton Gleeson, an East Clare man, and he had a close friendship with the Lord Inchiquin of the day, another terribly prestigious character. He went on to name his house and property Inchiquin after his friend and as Irish luck and fate would have it, I live in the very same property, which to this day is still called Inchiquin.
“These are the connections that I think the tourist industry can build itself up from because my story and ancestry is one of millions and I think the more we make Australians aware of their cultural and ancestral connection with Ireland, all the better for the Irish tourism industry because they will want to come here,” he said.
He added that another interesting social change has occurred in Australia, one associated with those sent on the convict ships to Australia.
“Up until recently, to have a convict past was a source of embarrassment, not to be spoken about. However, now it is entirely changed and it is a source of bragging if you have a convict ancestor. But, of course, not all Irish immigrants were convicts. They were victims of social times and poor economy of the time. In fact, our founder was instrumental in bringing over Irish who were suffering at the time and bringing them to the Clare Valley and this added to our Irish ancestry,” he explained.
Mr Aughey explained the conference gave him an ideal opportunity to speak with many people within the tourism industry and also regulators of the industry.
“It was invaluable too because we share many of the same issues. I found some answers to issues and I found some of the questions I was hoping to get answers to are challenging to the Irish industry as well. So I go back to Australia much better equipped from the conference,” he concluded.
While visiting, Mr Aughey was given a flavour for all things Irish, attending the All-Ireland Junior Club Camogie Championship with the winning Inagh team, as well as sampling John B Keane’s play Big Maggie in Glór.