Parish Toolkit

Welcome

We are delighted to welcome you to the project. Together, we can develop and harness the extraordinary potential of your community’s Diaspora around the world for the betterment of your area today, and for Irish people everywhere.

The following information and links have been developed for the purpose of assisting Parishes through the first phase of the Ireland Reaching Out Project.

Click on the links below to access the resources that will help you to either start up a new Ireland XO group in your community or to promote an existing one.

How to Start an Ireland XO Group in your area

If you're starting a new group these hints will help you to get going.

Simple Steps to Promote Ireland Reaching Out in your area

Tips on the easiest ways to promote your group.

Ireland Reaching Out Backgrounder

Use this flyer to promote Ireland XO in your area – it is simple to add your own contact information and local photos.

Website and Parish Profiles

A central element of the “Meet & Greet” strategy of the Ireland Reaching Out Project is that each Parish presents itself to its global Diaspora within its own section of the Ireland XO website.

Finding your Parish Diaspora

Here you will find useful information on ways and methods to start finding your parish diaspora around the world.

Heritage Training

Information on a training programme run in South-East Galway in 2011

Week of Welcomes

Some information about our pilot Week of Welcomes in South-East Galway last year and tips about how to organise one in your own area.

How to Start an Ireland XO Group in your area

Identify those in your parish who might be interested in getting involved and starting to build a core team:

Genealogy, Heritage & History Societies are a great source as well as Active Retirement Groups, Camera or Photo Clubs
Approach local community and development groups
Interested individuals, particularly those with computer, history or genealogical skills
Transition year students might be interested in a project for their studies

The ideal group is made up of young and old as there are many roles to fill:

Researchers to interview people/families and research the records
Parish Organisers to help with the Week of Welcomes
Meet & Greeters who will meet with returning people anytime of the year
People with IT or web skills - this is a great way to get younger people involved, e.g. setting up a Facebook page, monitoring the parish website page on the main Ireland XO website
Even those who live outside the parish, the Diaspora themselves. A son/daughter/cousin abroad can equally become involved.

Meeting with the Ireland Reaching Out team

Once you have identified a core group of interested people, we at Ireland Reaching Out are available to meet with you and get you started on the first steps.

Keeping Momentum Going

Invite guest speakers to give talks, organize training (see section on Heritage Training), hold regular events or trips etc. In particular, up skilling and education have proved to be particularly attractive. Relevant areas are in

Heritage Training where funding from Rural Development/LEADER groups is often available;
IT training to help with running the website and
Photo/Video skills to produce good quality for the website.

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Simple Steps to Promote Ireland Reaching Out in your area

Spreading the Word

One of the most challenging aspects at the beginning will be to get enough people interested. Meetings need to be advertised extensively and during this phase, it is recommended that weekly meetings are held to keep people on board.

Use the following to advertise your meetings

Your Local (Parish) Newsletter
Your Regional Newspaper – start making a list of all the local journalists and their contact information; send them information on a continuous basis and build up a relationship
Local Radio / Community Diary
Word of mouth - this is often the simplest and most effective way to promote your group. Mention it to everyone you know: friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues. Ask them to tell as many people as they can.
Text/Email – a short text or email giving the time and place of your next walk is a sure fire way to encourage a few new members. Start to record every mobile and email. A template excel sheet is available
Flyers/posters in the local library, post office, supermarket etc.
Bring a friend – have everyone bring at least one other person to every meeting
Any local Websites
Take photos of every meeting and start building up a library; will be very useful later for press articles
Facebook – set up your own parish Facebook page – we can help you with this!
Twitter – set up an account, again we can assist with this

After meetings it is recommended that you

send a short report to your local paper and distribute it also to all the email contacts you have. This all helps to keep the project in the public eye and to build momentum.
Make sure to record attendance at every meeting (see sample registration list provided) and record all contact details in an excel sheet for texting and emailing. Recommended texting systems are:
- www.texting.ie (texts cost €35 per 1,000)
- www.clickatell.com

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Ireland Reaching Out Backgrounder

The Ireland Reaching Out (IRO) project is an initiative for the economic, social and cultural development of the Irish people both at home and worldwide. Following the international Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh in Dublin in autumn 2009, an innovative proposal to enable the global Irish to be identified and reunited was submitted to the Irish government. The proposal succeeded in getting the support and endorsement of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the area of South-East Galway was designated as the national pilot project area. Substantial further support has been forthcoming from Galway County Council, the Heritage Council, the GAA and Irish-American sources. David McWilliams, the master of ceremonies at Farmleigh, has agreed to become the national PRO of the project. The pilot project focussed on approximately 30 local parishes around the towns of Loughrea, Gort and Portumna.

Use this flyer for some more historical information about Ireland Reaching Out.

Use this flyer to promote Ireland XO in your area – it is simple to add your own contact information and local photos.

Click HERE for flyer (Microsoft Word format)

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Website and Parish Profiles

When you are ready to profile your parish on the www.irelandxo.com website, please contact our Web Manager, Mark Conroy, mconroy(at)irelandxo.com.

The following information and resources are required from each participating parish:

A general description of the Parish of approx. 120 words
An attractive initial landscape picture of the area or a key local landmark
Townland map, Maps / Pictures of your Area.
A description of historical points of interest with photos
A listing and portrait presentation of the local Ireland XO Welcome Team Members
Any local videos there might be available.

A core function of the website will be the messaging area which will allow those connected with the parish from abroad to leave messages. Every parish will have its own email address for replying, e.g. loughrea@irelandxo.com.

More detailed information is available in these documents.

Parish Profile Template (Microsoft Word format)

Parish Profile Template (PDF format)

Copyright

Ensure that any photos, text, documents used on the website are your originals or you have written permission to use them

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Finding your Parish Diaspora

One of the first steps is to start finding and recording details of emigrants from each town land. This requires the voluntary effort of local people. Information can then be input into the Ireland XO website and a database to establish contact around the world. The website has a specific section for each parish which should be populated with details about the parish, points of interest, its inhabitants, past and present including who they were, where they went and where they and their descendents are now. This information, adhering to data protection requirements and issues of privacy, will be accessible worldwide (similar to Facebook) and leverage the power of the Internet.

Some suggested methods are:

A Parish Survey

One way to get started is to simply identify all those in living memory who left the parish. Family, relatives, friends, neighbours – who lived where? When did they leave / where did they go / does anyone know where they or their descendants are today and have a contact address/telephone no. for them. Focus on those who have not been back before. Set the object to find one person for every member of your Parish - start with your own family!

Here you will find a Sample Parish Genealogical Survey Form to record details.

Researching the Parish Records

Details on how to start researching the genealogical records and available online resources can be found here. Ireland XO has a fulltime genealogist available to train and assist your team in this area.

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