The Gathering tourism initiative winds down more than a decade after its launch

The Gathering, the 2013 government-backed effort to boost Irish tourism in the wake of the financial crash, has finally been wound down after a decade. The company behind the initiative that targeted the Irish diaspora had been dormant since 2013 but was maintained by Fáilte Ireland in case it was needed again. The most recent company accounts for the project show the board of the national tourist State agency finally agreed last March to wind up the company. In 2011, the Government set up a forum designed to try to restore Ireland’s reputation and boost its economy in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. The Global Irish Economic Forum at Dublin Castle produced the idea for The Gathering, a Fáilte Ireland proposal to run a big year-long tourism campaign to persuade those living abroad with Irish connections to visit the country. READ MOREThe project was adopted and supported by the government and, in 2012, a company representing the project was set up as a subsidiary of Fáilte Ireland. The government set The Gathering a target of attracting 325,000 visitors in 2013, and gave Fáilte Ireland ring-fenced funding of €5 million in 2012 to prepare for the event followed by €7 million in funding in Budget 2013. There were at least 2,800 separate events planned across the country in 2013, with other unofficial events also understood to have been organised around the tourism initiative. Events included a special St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin in 2013, which allowed 8,000 tourists to take part in the parade. The 2013 Rose of Tralee invited 5,000 former contestants to visit Kerry as part of a special “gathering of Roses”. According to a December 2013 report, final tourist numbers associated with The Gathering were between 250,000 and 275,000 and the project was estimated to have made €170 million in revenue. The project had also faced some criticism domestically. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, believing it a rip-off of American tourists, suggested rebranding it The Grabbing. In 2013, it was suggested it might be replicated every five years, though this never happened. Fáilte Ireland continued to maintain the associated company and filed annual accounts every year. In 2024, a spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland said “the company in question is currently dormant but it is being maintained by Fáilte Ireland should it be required in the future for any similar initiative or event.”In a report on the company’s financial statements for 2025, the Comptroller and Auditor General confirmed that “in March 2026, the Board of the National Tourism Development Authority decided to close the company and intends to apply for strike-off from the Companies Registration Office.”