March 2015

Hello from the Coordinator’s chair and I would like to wish you all a very happy and belated St. Patrick’s Day. As usual we spent our Paddy’s day in Ireland with a group of returning emigrants. This time in Aughrim Co. Wicklow and you can read all about our adventures in a report on our Aisling Trips page very shortly. We went to Aughrim this year rather than Blessington which is our usual March destination because the cottages where we usually stay have been priced up way beyond our range and so we had to seek out a cheaper alternative. We stayed in cottages run by Trident (www.tridentholidayhomes.ie) who are a company we have used often and they offer very reasonable terms and even given us holiday vouchers for our various raffle prizes through the years so we tend to look first at what they are offering in the various parts of Ireland we visit before confirming a booking. We still have to rely on holiday companies for accommodation on most of our trips. The main exception is in Donegal where Valerie Morton used to loan us her holiday cottages at Killybegs each May and since she is no longer using the cottages Pat Logue, pub guvnor of the Sheephaven Bay has stepped in and we now stay in his family home in Downings free of charge on the same week. Last year was our first in Downings and we are looking forward to going back there in a few weeks’ time.

We are as ever hoping that this year may prove to be a turning point in our effort to open our own Resettlement House in Ireland. You may remember that we had a very positive meeting with Jimmy Deenihan, the new Minister for the Diaspora late last year in order to progress our plans and already this last week we have had a meeting with Sinn Fein’s Diaspora spokesperson Trevor O’Clochartaigh in Westminster who we hope will help to move our plans still further forward. There are signs that the economy is improving in Ireland and there are once again calls for emigrants to return home in the press and in statements from politicians. I suppose they are mostly aimed at high earners and those with plenty of cash to invest in the country and we hope that many will consider such a move but these are not the people we represent and our clients would be hoping to make a home back in Ireland but would at least at first be hoping that their homeland would welcome them regardless of their ability to contribute massively to the financial recovery. What Aisling returners can contribute is a sense of well-being not just for their families and friends, estranged for so long but for the whole country and the completion of a journey began with so much hope to benefit their families and the nation and now at last returning into a place of safety where they can resettle back into their own communities where they will be welcomed and valued.

Our raffle of Rugby World Cup tickets is gathering momentum and was given a considerable boost by Ireland’s truly amazing and historic victory in the 6 Nations last week. We were driving back from Pembroke Dock as Wales were kicking off against Italy on the final day of the contest and we were listening to the match on BBC Cymru which was handy because it is hard to get any other BBC signal in Wales. By the time we were across the border into England the Ireland v Scotland match was kicking off at Murrayfield. None of us in the minibus believed that Ireland would ever achieve the 22 points needed to beat Wales to the total. At the end of that game we knew for sure that England had no hope of securing a victory to surpass Ireland. By the time we reached London we were exhausted and amazed that England only lost by the slimmest margin in the most thrilling sporting occasion in years. Buy tickets now at the designated pub outlets for the most eagerly awaited Rugby World Cup ever.