Tag Archives: Diaspora

Applications can now be made for funding under the Community Tourism Initiative for the Diaspora. The initiative, launched last year, builds on the community involvement legacy of The Gathering 2013 and is a joint partnership between Clare County Council, IPB Insurance and Fáilte Ireland. The scheme provides a national fund of €1m to support local community-based events and festivals each year. Last year, 31 local events were supported in Clare, attracting over 1,400 visitors from overseas. Administered locally by Clare County Council, the application process will close on March 31. Interested parties can contact Ailish McMahon, Tourism & Community Department, Clare County Council. Cthaoirleach of Clare County Council, John Crowe said, “We all witnessed the benefits from The Gathering and this scheme gives us an opportunity to build on its legacy. The Community Tourism Initiative allows us to sustain many of the grass roots networks which sprang to life during The Gathering in Clare and sustain an infrastructure of events …

A BID to have the proposed National Diaspora Centre based in Bunratty has come to nothing, after the Government announced  that the project will not go ahead. Clare County Council had worked in partnership with Shannon Heritage and tourism advisers Sherwood and Associates to prepare what it called “an ambitious and detailed bid” for the project, which it wanted to build in Bunratty, which it claimed was an ideal site close to Shannon Airport and the M18 with an established tourism infrastructure. After learning this week that the Government has decided not to proceed with the project, Council Director of Services for Planning, Community, Enterprise and Economic Development Ger Dollard said, “The council has been advised that the process underway for the selection of a National Diaspora Centre has now been terminated. “This is disappointing in that a very detailed proposal had been prepared by the council, supported by Shannon Heritage and the Shannon Group. We will continue to work in …

MEMBERS of the Irish Diaspora who are unable to travel home to attend family funerals can now view a live stream of the funeral on the internet. ‘Funerals Live’ is the brainchild of Inagh businessman, Alan Foudy, who has plans to create up to 10 new jobs over the next 18 months as the innovative service is rolled out. “Wherever in the world our client may be, whether it is in Australia or the United States, this service provides them with a private weblink to a live stream of a funeral service or the option of a video recording of the entire service, including the burial, within two hours of its conclusion,” he explained. Mr Foudy said the idea behind this venture arose after he was asked to make a DVD of a funeral service for relatives and friends of the deceased whose funeral they could not attend. “The general feeling was that a live webcast or a delayed broadcast …