The Emigrants Commemorative Centre

Fáilte – Carna, Connemara

Welcome to The Emigration and Diaspora Centre Project – Carna, Connemara.
This is the story of Connemara and emigration.

January 2022
Newsletter

Gaeilge
English

Scéal maith i dtús na bliana.

Scéal maith againn dhibh ag tús na bliana 2022. Tá muid inann deimhniú a thabhairt anois go mbeidh an fhorbairt ar dhá áis eile ag shuíomh Ionad Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach ag tosaí i mbliana.

• Táthar le Ionad Taispeáintis a thógáil ar thaobh na láimhe clé – agus tú ag teacht aníos ó shráid Charna – den Ionad. Beidh eolas, áiseanna cluas-amhairc agus taispeaintisí eile a thabharfaidh léargas ar an imirce san Ionad seo.

• Beidh Gáirdín Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach dá fhorbairt ar an gcnocán ó dheas den Ionad. Beidh suíocháin agus cosáin sa nGáirdín seo agus amharc breá as, siar i dtreo an Atlantaigh. Feisteofar séadchomhartha ann freisin in omós do imirceoirí agus dá sliocht ar fud an domhain.

Dheimhnigh Príomhfheidhmeannach Údarás na Gaeltacht, Micheál Ó hÉanaigh go mbeidh an tÚdarás ag dul i mbun na hoibre seo i gcomhar le Coiste Ionad Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach. Tá cead iomlán pleanála ar fáil le haghaidh an dá thógra seo, agus le haghaidh aon obair bhreise atá ag teastáil, mar chuid den scéim oibre uilig,

Beidh na háiseanna seo ar fáil do mhuintir na háite agus don phobal.

Ní féidir aon bhuille chruinn a thabhairt faoin dáta a dtosóidh an obair seo i mbliana ach tá muid ag súil gur féidir tosaí luath go maith sa mbliain. Caithfear cuid de shuíomh Ionad Cuimhneacháin na nImirceach a dhúnadh le linn don obair seo a bheith ar bun. Chuile sheans go mbeidh an carr chlós dúnta don phobal agus go gcaithfear caranna a pháirceáil ar thaobh an bhóthair aníos as sráidbhaile Charna.

Léigh an nuachtlitir iomlán trí chliceáil ANSEO

GOOD NEWS TO BEGIN THE YEAR.

Good news at the beginning of 2022. We can now confirm in this news update that the development of two significant additions to the Emigrants and Diaspora Centre project will go ahead this coming year
An Exhibition Hall is to be added to the Centre to the immediate south of the present building, that is the left hand side of the Centre as you approach it from the main road in Carna village. This will be an Exhibition area that will house a range of memorabilia and exhibition points which will tell the story of our emigrants and their descendants.

An Emigrants Remembrance Garden – incorporating a community Garden – will be developed on the hillock just to the south of the Centre. This development will include seating and viewing areas in a raised area overlooking the Atlantic. It will also have a walkway and an appropriate memorial to honour our emigrants and their descendant.

Micheál Ó hÉanaigh, Údarás na Gaeltachta CEO (Michael Heaney, CEO of the Authority for the Irish speaking regions in Ireland) has confirmed to this newsletter that Údarás na Gaeltachta will initiate this work in tandem with the Emigrants and Gaeltacht Diaspora Centre Board. There is already full planning permission available for these two projects, and for all ancillary work that will be needed on the site. While it is certainly intended that these development are aimed at bringing more visitors to the Centre, the new facilities will be available to local people and to visitors, alike.

It is not possible, at the time of writing, to make a judgement as to how soon work on the new developments will get underway on the site; we are hoping that very significant progress can be made in the earlier part of the year.

However, we would point out that some of the site will be closed off during the construction phase. One could envisage that the car park area will be closed and this will mean that cars have to be parked along the roadway from Moran’s Bar and Shop as far as the main gateway to the Centre.

The new phase of the work at the Centre site will involve investment of approximately half a million euro, and the spin-off in social and economic terms in future years will reach many multiples of that.

Read the full newsletter by clicking HERE

The Windy Peninsula...

Carna and Cill Chiaráin (Kilkieran) are on the far West coast of Connemara in the West of Ireland. These two areas comprise the peninsula of Iorras Aithneach – ‘The Windy Peninsula’.

‘The Windy Peninsula’ is renowned for its rich traditions of music, ‘sean-nós’ singing, ‘sean-nós’ dancing, folklore and storytelling. It is a community steeped in seafaring and fishing over the centuries and it has an illustrious tradition of boat building – Galway hookers and sailing boats included. But it was a tough place to live; the land was poor. The infrastructure was bad an there was little means of regular earnings. Emigration was the only option for very many people.

The Emigrants and Diaspora Centre will tell that story

It will be a monument in honour of our emigrants.

It will be a symbolic gathering point for the people of this community and their descendants wherever they may be.

It will portray the changing face of a rural Gaeltacht areas and the effects of emigration.

A blessing for the future

The Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh (on right) looks on as Carna Parish Priest, Fr Pádraig Standún, blesses the foundation stone for the Emigrants Commemorative Centre in Carna. September 23rd 2014.

Searching for the past

Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston looks through the old roll books in the Carna Primary School to find the names of his aunts, the Walsh’s of Callowfeenish. On the left, Máire Greene, the School Principal and immediately to her right is Sergeant Winnie Cotter of the Boston Police, the Mayor’s first cousin. Mayor Walsh’s mother, Mary Walsh, a native of Ros Muc, is on the left of the picture.

If those walls could talk

The old building from 1887. It was once a school and later the Carna Parish Hall. It will be blended into the Emigrants Centre.

The Emigrants Commemorative Centre was officially opened on the 12th of May, 2018 by the Mayor of Boston, Martin J. Walsh, alongside the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the Irish Government, Joe McHugh, T.D.

This photographs show Mayor Walsh and Minister McHugh jointly cutting the ribbon to officially send the Centre on its way.

This photographs here show Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Minister Joe McHugh jointly performing the cutting of the tape.

The building itself is also shown here – the Emigrants Commemorative Centre as it sets out on a road that will, hopefully, see this area benefit in social, economic and cultural terms as a result of the project.

Address

Emigrants and Diaspora Centre Office
c/o Údarás na Gaeltachta House,
Carna, Connemara,
Co. Galway
Ireland

Contacts

Email: foram@eircom.net
Phone (Secretary):
+353 87 3983189
Phone (Chairman):
+353 87 2515352

Links

Irish Genealogy Toolkit
Irish Genealogy