The best places to gather for ‘The Gathering’

THE Government is hoping to boost tourism this year with

‘The Gathering’ initiative, which is aimed at bringing relatives and friends living abroad back to the old country. This week we asked our Facebook followers to recommend the best tourist destinations for those visiting Ireland in 2013.

Ann Ditton: Go on the boat that takes you down the Liffey.

Brian Shane Byrne: The room in which Fianna Fail signed the letter to the IMF which surrendered Irish sovereignty.

Lynn Maguire: A trip out to Howth.

Eva Greasley: Spike Island.

Belinda Daly: The Guinness Storehouse

Siobhan Gibney: I have nicknamed

‘The Gathering’

‘The Scattering’. I only know of people leaving Ireland, not coming home.

Tricia Keogh: Glendalough

Frances Mansfield: The best place to visit is the Museum of Archaeology in Dublin – bog bodies, gold collection etc. Another place is the National Heritage Park in Wexford where you can spend a night living like an Iron Age man and learn how to shoot a bow and arrow.

Shane MacThomais: Glasnevin Cemetery.

Mary Connolly: A place where they wouldn’t be ripped off.

Jimmy McGuirk: Mountjoy Prison or the Dail so they can see where all the gangsters are.

Pamela Smith: Newgrange but only if the weather was warmer!

Kathy Malone: I would have to say Collins Barracks as it has all the history of Ireland in it and it’s free with lots to see.

Declan Lyons: Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. The facilities in Bru na Boinne are excellent and all of the tours are given by very knowledgeable guides. In Dublin the best tour has to be Kilmainham Gaol. Most of the big players in Irish History have resided within its walls, for a time.