Parishes reach out across the world

OVER 70 team leaders representing 30 South-East Galway parishes attended the Ireland Reaching Out information evening at the Loughrea Spa Hotel last Wednesday evening.
IRO chairperson, Mike Feerick, presented a comprehensive update on the progress of the South-East Galway pilot project to date and plans for early 2011. Representatives from the parishes of Ardrahan, Clontuskert and Fohenagh spoke at the meeting outlining the details of their participation in the project so far.
The speakers outlined the excellent enthusiasm for the project on the ground throughout their parishes, challenges met and overcome in initiating the project within their communities and progress achieved to date.
The Ireland Reaching Out South-East Galway pilot Project was launched on October 28 in Loughrea by broadcaster and economist David McWilliams and is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The programme will enable parish communities to reconnect with those who have left the area and their descendants worldwide and bring social, cultural and economic benefit to the area of south-east Galway. The economic benefits, proponents believe, will not be limited to increased tourism revenue for local communities alone but will also be harnessed through the creation and expansion of their communities online. The South-East pilot project will culminate in a Week of Welcomes planned for late June 2011.
Wednesday’s meeting offered the opportunity for parish team members to network and meet other volunteers from across the region. In his presentation, Mike Feerick outlined that progress had been made in mobilising volunteers in all but two of the targeted parishes. He reported that over 40 local parish meetings have taken place since the launch in October, with approximately 500 volunteers now active on the ground.
Volunteers in parish communities are gathering information on people who have emigrated and retrieving contact details for them and their descendants across the world, with many more people set to become involved as the project expands.
Speaking on behalf of the Ardrahan group, Rory O’Shaughnessy described some of the steps their local group has undertaken to spread the word about the project in the parish. This included placing information flyers in the local post office and participation in the Christmas sale of work. In the new year, it is also intended to involve the national schools of the area.
Joe Molloy, chairperson of the Clontuskert Heritage Group outlined the motivation for their participation in the project. Clontuskert, which is one of the oldest parishes in the diocese of Clonfert has already published a history of Clontuskert, The Parish of Clontuskert – Glimpses into its Past.
As part of the Ireland Reaching Out project, the group is building and expanding on the vast amount of emigrant data they already have. Joe Molloy spoke of the excitement of tracing families from his own townland in particular. He said he grew up in a house beside Staunton’s field yet there was no trace of even a house or home on the land. He had often wondered about where the Staunton family had gone and had just recently found the first traces of where their descendants might be today.
Using genealogy message boards on the internet is just one of the methods being used by the Fohenagh and Killure group to find and make contact with long-lost relatives from abroad. Representing Fohenagh, Paula Kennedy, provided other useful tips as well and details of lessons learned since their first involvement in the project.
Outlining the priorities and focus for the next few weeks, Mike Feerick summarised the key tasks such as where to find out who left, where they went, where they and their descendants are today and how can they contact them. Difficult weather conditions in recent weeks resulted in some delays to the schedule of research.
Details of the Week of Welcomes event were outlined at the meeting and invitations to the week’s events will be distributed from January 14, when the event details will have been finalised. The IRO project is now entering a critical phase, Mike said and he thanked all attending for the excellent turnout and the energetic engagement by so many people in the project.
Anyone who would like more information or who would like to get involved can contact Dolores O’Shea on 085 1925466 or by email at doshea@irelandxo.com.