Insider View on The Gathering

This month our intrepid thinker Lucy Madden wonders about the longterm value of The Gathering - and has some excellent ideas of her own to put forward

Local children hover to catch the unwary with a request to ‘buy a line’ as a card is produced with a figure pointing forwards as if recruiting for a war. I see the words ‘three-legged race’ and somewhere at the bottom of the page ‘The Gathering’ is mentioned.

“Where is the money going?” I ask, anxious to escape. “Some of it to the school,” I am told. One must assume that this means that we are being asked to sponsor a gathering of the three-legged in aid of some piece of playground equipment or the like; nothing wrong with that, I am used to sponsoring, if forced, other people’s walks along the Great Wall of China, or bicycling through Provence, but it’s the ubiquity with which this word ‘gathering’ has become so all-embracing and is beginning to infuriate.

I must confess to being psychologically unsuited to be present at any gathering, large or small and this includes family weddings, school reunions, political rallies, AGMs and every other occasion where people who normally choose not to meet are brought together.

Worst of all are certain social gatherings; how I agree with the writer Craig Brown who said that ‘dinner and party’ are two words that shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Let that be; clearly that view is not shared by many others.

There are those who speak most eloquently and enthusiastically about The Gathering. President Obama found his Irish roots here and others will doubtless do so. The idea of local communities inviting Irish émigrés back to see the places where their antecedents lived (and often left) is a fine one, but the website Ireland Reaching Out (IrelandXO) which tells Americans that “When people like you arrive in Ireland, we not only want to make sure somebody is there to meet you locally, but also to make sure they have the training necessary to give you quality advice on your locality.” arouses my suspicions.

The last person you want to meet on a holiday is a ‘trained’ windbag as an escort. I sense the dead hand of bureaucracy reaching out. And here too is the rub; what motivation will the invitees see behind this call to the homeland? The benefits may well be social and cultural, but it will be hard to avoid the thought that the begging bowl is out.

Besides, many of those who left did so out of necessity and may feel angry that they are now being asked back to support a failed economy. Some years ago we received a letter from a charity asking for a straight donation that would avoid the obligation to make up a party, donate a gift for an auction, drive for miles and spend the evening shuffling around a hotel ballroom in aid of fund raising. Perhaps the Irish government would have been better to have asked its emigrants for say, a $10 donation to help us out of our difficulties.

Readers may find this attitude churlish and kill-joy, call it the Gabriel Byrne syndrome, possibly even influenced by my dislike of Ann Enright’s novel of the same name, but I find it hard to dispel the thought that somehow The Gathering was the wrong way to go.

It feeds into the notion that Ireland is being branded as an Oirish Theme Park, and we don’t need to do that. Denmark, for example, has reinvented itself as a destination for foodies. The allure of its television detectives may have something to do with it too.

It’s hard to imagine a re-branding of the country as a Land of the Vikings would have a similar effect in attracting visitors. The newly opened Abba museum in Sweden will surely bring in more tourists than if the country announced it was to be The Land of the Cool Blond.

Supporting enterprises that will provide visitors with an interesting, pleasurable and most importantly, authentic experience is far more likely to bring in the tourists than any spurious notion that a party is going to take place.

A good example of this, mentioned before on these pages, is the Great Western Greenway that I visit frequently. It is a cycle and pedestrian footpath that follows the old coastal railway line in Co.Mayo and is attracting a network of satellite businesses along its route.

Everything about it taps into the zeitgeist and on each visit I witness its increasing popularity. A ‘gathering’ is a once-off; an enterprise can grow and last for decades. Why not a museum celebrating our own musical achievers, U2 or the Pogues? Move over, Abba.

Together with her husband Johnny & family, Lucy Madden runs their magnificent 18th century mansion, Hilton Park, Clones, Co Monaghan as a country house which is open to private guests, groups, small weddings and conferences. The restored formal gardens are also open by arrangement. Lucy is a keen organic gardener and also a member of the Irish Food Writers Guild.