AN IRISH entrepreneur is the brainchild behind an initiative to re-connect emigrants with their home-place. He is urging descendants to get involved with the venture which he believes will be of a major economic social and cultural benefit to everybody involved.

Galway businessman Mike Feerick says the ethos behind The Ireland Reaching Out project is simple; rather than waiting for emigrants to return home themselves, they are tracked down abroad, provided with information about their background and invited back to their ancestral places of origin.

The programme is due to be rolled out across Ireland in the near future but is being piloted in the west of the country, in 48 parishes in South East Galway which encompasses the towns of Loughrea, Portumna and Gort and their surrounds.

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