How to claim your Certificate of Irish Heritage - VIDEO

Representative of the Certificate of Irish Heritage with President Michael D Higgins

The Irish Government has (finally) had a good idea! in deciding to award anybody who can claim Irish descent with a Certificate of Irish Heritage. And while it is a government endorsed document, signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, Deputy Eamonn Gilmore, just to be absolutely clear, it does not have any legal standing ie it is definitely not a passport. But that certainly isn’t deterring the 1000’s of people who have applied for their own personal Certificate of Irish Hertitage on behalf of themselves or a relative, since the scheme was first rolled out last September.

Who can apply? Literally, anybody who was not born in Ireland themselves but who has a relative that was and obviously some sort of proof of identity will be needed. ie a birth certificate or baptismal record, marriage certificate or even immigration entry records of the host country will suffice. And if you haven’t the foggiest notion where to obtain that kind of information there is free genealogy team available online at the link below to help you. And so far, they have been generally been able to come up with the necessary documentation within 24 hours.

Which is pretty impressive, considering Ireland has a diaspora of some 70 million souls worldwide, whose relatives emigrated in the wake of famine and hardship, in search of a better life in 'the lands of opportunity' like America and Australia. Many of them were mere children themselves like Lizzy Emmerson who was just 18 when she left Ireland in 1882 for New Zealand sadly never to see her family again, but whose great, great grand-daughter has managed to re-connect with her long lost relatives in Enniskillen via this new service.
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Or the millions of Irish that fled the western seaboard for the USA in the 1940’s the first sending out the fare to the second to join them. And mostly by all accounts, being hard workers they did very well for themselves, marrying (other Irish emigrant’s) raising and educating despite the horrid loneliness and endless anguish of having had to leave their families and native country. Perhaps that is why the ties are so great with Ireland and the yearning to revisit old homesteads, connect with surviving relatives relentless. At last the Irish Government has seen fit to recognize and reward their sacrifices and the right of their descendants to an official Irish identity.

The certificate itself is beautifully presented on vellum style paper, with an embossed a golden harp, the symbol of Ireland, with a choice of templates styled by the National Gallery of Ireland, available for personalization, which can then be dispatched worldwide, framed or unframed for €40 plus postage and packing, so why not claim yours and become Irish today.

Visit their website for more information. 

By Susan Byron author of irelands-hidden-gems.com

Here's an instructional video from the Certificate of Irish Heritage:

Love is in the air...travel ideas in Ireland to celebrate St Valentine's Day

Hayfield Manor

Love is in the air with some great Valentines packages in Ireland this weekend.

Why not cuddle and curl up with a movie, chocolate feast and bottle of bubbly in your own luxury suite overlooking the river Shannon in Limerick City this weekend.

There will be rugby action for the guys on the big screen Saturday night with Ireland playing France in the RBS Six Nations and spa treatments for the girls, not to mention a bit of retail therapy in Brown Thomas up town.

An overnight stay in standard room in the Limerick Strand Hotel, Limerick City including breakfast and a luxury 4 course dinner in the River Restaurant starts from €99 pps sharing for 1 night, €139 for 2 nights! Upgrade to a suite for €40 per night.
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Or if it’s something a little more serious you fancy, it being a leap year? it might be a good idea to give Hayfield Manor in country Cork a bell, they have their very own Proposal Team in place to help you set scene and get that all important YES result!

They have some great ideas including candlelit venues with chauffeur driven champagne transfers to perhaps an islolated beach with your proposal written on the sand…the sky is the limit quite literally with the option of a trailing banner from a light aircraft either? After all it’s a once in a lifetime occasion, hopefully. A personal (top-secret) consultation with the team, who will do all the leg work for you till you get down on one knee, is complimentary with any of their romantic dinner, bed and breakfast packages which start from about €225 pps sharing.

The Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt

Or you could leave it in the capable and knowing staff of the The Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt, County Wicklow, who have been known to soothe manys an anxious suitors nerves.

The hotel itself is set down a long avenue lined with mature beech trees in the grounds of Powerscourt House and Gardens. You are unlikely to encounter a more romantic, breathtaking, setting anywhere in Ireland, with terraced gardens and a huge fountain overlooking the Sugar Loaf (I kid you not) Mountain, until it snows that is?

Cue the clever ladies at the The Ritz Carlton who donned their wellies, trudged out into the snow to spell out ‘marry me’ lit by tealights for an extremely nervous gentleman last year? No prizes for guessing he got a resounding "yes" answer and they seem to be living happily ever after with their wedding reception taking place there this summer.

Romantic packages starting from €310 per couple in a deluxe room, with dinner, bed and breakfast in the Sugar Loaf restaurant or €360 per couple with six course gourmet dinner in Gordon Ramseys and while snow cannot be guaranteed, a fairytale setting certainly is.

Ashford Castle

From fairy-tales to legends who wouldn’t like to be woo-ed Maid Marion-style in Ashford Castle, on the shores of Lough Corrib. This turreted and stately pile has been the setting for many proposals, with its cute little stone bridges leading into romantic tree lined walks. Enlist the help of Ashford Castle’s falconer to deliver your proposal (or the actual ring) to the arm of your intended on the talons of a trained Harris Hawk

Afterwards revel Tudors style in the lavish surroundings and sumptuous interiors of the castle itself, which once belonged to the famous Guinness family.

Valentines special on the 14th includes dinner, bed & breakfast, a dozen red roses and bottle of champagne for €495 per couple. And for daring-do’s an Everlasting Love Leap year special on the 29th is €395 per couple.

Feel free to cut, copy, paste, share any of the above and leave obviously lying about for the love of your life to read.

By Susan Byron author of http://www.irelands-hidden-gems.com/