From Leitrim to London to the US - global diaspora event in the works for Leitrim

There were calls for another diaspora summit in Leitrim at the county's budget meeting which took place recently. 

Members spoke of the huge success that was the Leitrim Gathering 2025: A Homecoming for the Heart and Soul, which took place over three days and was described as Leitrim "calling its people home—both near and far—for a weekend of celebration, connection, and heritage."

Cllr Sean McGowan said that the Gathering should become an annual event. "I think it's something we should be looking at running every year for a weekend. It brings a lot of people back into the county; I don't know what the cost implications are but I think it's something we could look at. It gave the county a good profile."

Cllr Felim Gurn seconded Cllr McGowan's sentiments stating that the event could be "run in our major municipal areas; Carrick, Ballinamore, Manorhamilton. I think we are missing an opportunity if we don't. It was a huge success throughout the county." 

In relation to heritage investment in the county he said: "We're missing a key thing regarding heritage towns and villages. I know the criteria has changed. If you have a population of under 1,500 and there is a lot of heritage in the town and village;  I think we are missing the status that it can give."

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He went on to say that he believed there should be more information available in libraries with regard to those visiting the county who are interested in genealogy. "We have people coming here, especially Americans. Recently we had someone who came back and were trying to track their roots back to 1840."

He continued: "I do think that if we had access to the library that we could steer people towards this. I was asking these people and they were in their seventies and eighties, and had come over especially to retrace their roots. We have a brand new library in Dromahair and there is a huge budget for libraries and that we could access genealogy services."

Head of finance, Vincent Dwyer, said the Leitrim Gathering was "very heavy on staff resources and something that occupied the minds of the economic development team for months. Well it was a very useful exercise, it certainly isn't something you could take on every year. The sheer scale of it is the challenge."

In relation to Cllr Gurn's comments on making the most of the county's heritage, Mr Dwyer said that a heritage plan is set to prepared. "I assume those issues can be taken on board through the consultation process. The SPC will be involved and everyone will have a chance to have their input."

Regarding libraries and genealogy, he added: "What we are finding is that, a lot of those resources are available online and our records show that there is a lot of engagement with those resources. We still get people who present to Ballinamore and call by phone but it is an area we always interested in development so we take on board your thoughts on that."

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David Minton, director of services, noted The Leitrim Gathering was "an incredibly successful event for Leitrim in 2025 and the resources and time that went into that were significant and not something that could be done on an annual basis but we are looking at the festival strategy for the county and looking at where we position festival events across the calendar that will maximise the benefit for Leitrim. One proposal coming through the SPCs and economic fora is a global diaspora or business summit which is looking to harness the diaspora network that we have from Leitrim to London to the US and look to do something here later on in the year with a focus on investing in Leitrim. We'll work out the details of that."