Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, today announced that Fáilte Ireland’s Global Irish Festival Series, which aims to encourage our diaspora to return home to visit Ireland, will once again take place along the Wild Atlantic Way in Limerick and Donegal this year.
Announcing the 2019 Global Irish Festival Series, Minister Ross said:
“It’s great to see the Global Irish Festival Series return this year. The festival series enables local communities to further build upon diaspora networks and deepen connections around the world.”
Speaking about the return of the festival series, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, said:
“Following the success of the initiative last year, the Global Irish Festival Series will take place again this year in Limerick and Donegal to encourage those abroad to return home to enjoy these great festivals.”
The festival series was launched as a pilot initiative in 2018. It provides funding and support, through the relevant local authorities, for events which tap into international diaspora networks to increase overseas visitors.
Speaking about the festival series, Fáilte Ireland’s Head of Festivals, Ciara Sugrue, said:
“The development of tourism festivals is part of Fáilte Ireland’s strategy to encourage domestic and international visitors to visit areas outside of traditional tourism hotspots and outside of peak times to spread the benefits of tourism to communities throughout Ireland. The Global Irish Festival Series aims to motivate diaspora to reconnect by visiting their home county and drive visitors to less visited tourism locations, creating new economic benefits for those local communities. As these events take place in the ‘shoulder season’, they will also help tourism operators to trade for longer.”
In Limerick, the Global Irish Festival Series will support Global Limerick, featuring I.NY (Irish in New York), which runs from 12th to 20th October and explores the deep connection between Ireland and New York City and the Richard Harris International Film Festival, which takes place from 22nd to 28th October and marks the life and works of Limerick’s most famous actor.
In Donegal, the initiative will support Donegal Connect, which runs from 27th September to 6th October and offers a rich itinerary of food, culture, music and heritage experiences, genealogy classes, sport, business and education, to entice the Irish Diaspora to explore the county.
The Global Irish Festival Series is being announced in the US this evening at the Consulate General of Ireland in New York in partnership with Tourism Ireland.
To find out more about the Global Irish Festival Series, see www.wildatlanticway.com/globalirish.
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