Heart of Ireland ready for the world stage.
After exactly one year’s research and hard work, The Heart of Ireland Festival & Competition was ready to be revealed to Ireland and the whole world. The launch boasted three excellent speeches.
Grainne Millar, founder of Culture Night and director GM innovations, highlighted how the festival concept fitted with the new national tourism policy on many levels. “The Hi Festival really has all of the key motivating factors that encourage people to choose to visit a destination in the first place as it is all about storytelling and experiences to convey the history, heritage and culture of Mullingar - A market town with heritage dating back to Norman times. It is interesting to see that these are the exact key pillars around which our new national tourism policy is being built so you have the foundations in place to build your long term strategy.” She further expanded “The strength of the community sector as a driver of diaspora-related tourism has also been recognised in the new tourism policy through building on the successful legacy of the Gathering Ireland 2013 - over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry if you could get 1% of that market you’d be doing well!!” After congratulating the Hi team on their enormous achievement to date in identifying a gap and creating a “gamechanging festival” with a festival programme designed to suit various audiences, Ms. Millar ended her powerful delivery as follows “The last thing I would say is that sustainable destinations and places come about through not just the Community – bottom up approach - as this needs to be supported by the top - Local Authority, Failte Ireland and other stakeholders to invest in and commit resources to making this happen - bring their credibility, endorsement and financial investment over a fixed time frame which helps to attract other investors and sponsors.”
Pat O’Neill, President, Midlands Gateway Chamber of Commerce then focused on the benefits from a midlands perspective. “The Hi Festival is not just of significance for Mullingar. It is of regional importance and will be a rock solid annual fixture in years to come. There are plenty of good ideas out there but Maria (Bourke) and Melanie (Lynch) have spotted and grabbed this opportunity with both hands and won’t let go until it is realised. We will be looking back on this launch event in ten years time and only then will it dawn on many how important this initiative is. Midlands Gateway Chamber represents over 600 businesses in the region and every one of them can benefit from this and also play a part in its success, for their sakes and their families. When you think of the 50,000 visitors a similar event brings annually to Tralee then you can begin to understand the enormous potential this opportunity represents.”
The third speaker was Mai Quaid, President, Active Retirement Ireland. “This is very exciting. When Mary Daly (ARI Secretary) brought this to our Board we loved it and how the concept fitted with the ethos of our organisation. It also ties in with healthy ageing. On my recent travels around the country l presented The Heart of Ireland to our 9 Regions and our members showed great interest. We have a membership base of 25000 and over 560 local groups.” Mai then revealed “I did have a bit of a scare when l woke up at 2 in the morning and wondered if men were included and after phoning to find out was so pleased to know l was worrying unnecessarily! We in Active Retirement are looking forward to working in partnership with the Hi Team.”
Then it was time for the surprise
Maria Bourke, Heart of Ireland founder then introduced local Musician and Broadcaster Noel O’Farrell.
“At the time of the Gathering, I was asked to write and perform an original song for the launch of that event, by coincidence also here in the Atrium. I was undecided between two songs I had written, Going Home and Heart of Ireland, and in the event, I opted for the former,” After inviting the audience to clap along, Noel then broke into song and by the end many were singing the catchy tune with him. Noel’s Heart of Ireland song, which is due to be released shortly, is the official anthem of the festival.
Melanie Lynch then explained The Tree of Modern Ireland - a beautiful 6ft copper tree sculpture -created especially for the launch by Gerry Hesnan. “This tree has 3 branches, representing those who have left our shores, those who have joined us from other countries and those people who have always stayed in Ireland. The tree will circulate around Mullingar over the coming months, starting immediately in Mullingar Library.” Many people had arrived to the launch with pictures to put on the tree following a call on Social Media. “
Maria Bourke declared the nomination process for the island of Ireland open. “The Competition is for men and women, 50 years and over (before January 1st 2015) who were born in Ireland, are Irish citizens or are of Irish origin by virtue of one of their ancestors having been born in Ireland. The ultimate award is the Heart of Gold. We are looking for men and women with good hearts, who do their best daily to make the world a better place. People who reflect the very best of what it is to be Irish.”
With the many thank yous conveyed, Maria then advised that there were Invitation / Fundraising Postcards available. “They have a dual purpose. Send them to family and friends to invite them to the Festival in July and help us raise urgent funds.” Postcards are now available for purchase to support this important initiative.
For full details on who is eligible and how to nominate, please visit www.heartofireland.ie. Closing date for receipt of nominations is Friday 8th May.
Irish TV filmed the launched, and will be broadcasting an initial piece on The Heart of Ireland to the Irish Diaspora worldwide next week on April 14th– tune in to channel 191.
For more information on The Heart of Ireland Festival visit www.heartofireland.ie. If you are in a position to make a donation to this ‘not for profit’ organisation you can do so online using the donate button on the website. To be kept up to date, follow us on Facebook /heartofirelandfestival and Twitter @hi_ireland.
For more information please contact:
Maria Bourke
087 9980056
maria@heartofireland.ie
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