IRELAND XO
Ireland Reaching Out is a multi-award-winning Irish government sponsored initiative established to help people of Irish heritage abroad connect with the Irish parish from where either they or their ancestors first originated in Ireland. An Taoiseach, the Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny TD, launched the Programme nationally on March 14, 2012. Ireland Reaching Out is a voluntary, non-profit community-based charitable organization.
How to contact Ireland XO:
By mail: Ireland Reaching Out
Michael Cusack House
25 Dunkelin Street, Loughrea
Co. Galway, Ireland
T: +353 (0)91 842013
Ireland XO offers a Free Service
If you would like Ireland XO to help you find out where you and your people are from in Ireland, please register with us. It's a free volunteer-led parish-based service. To begin, simply register on our website and tell us what you already know.
More than anything, Ireland XO is about connecting people, creating lifelong relationships between those of us who share a special bond of place. It is about celebrating the living heritage of Ireland as well as that of the past, and the heritage of Irish people, wherever they are found around the world today.
There are two ways we work to connect you with your ancestral community in Ireland. Firstly, through using what we call 'reverse genealogy' - instead of waiting for people of Irish descent to return to Ireland to trace their roots, local Irish communities, largely through volunteer effort and with the support of Ireland XO, are now tracing the people who left their parishes, seeking to find them and their living descendants worldwide. The local Irish community (parish) then reaches out, inviting them to become part of a new virtual global Irish community. Alternatively, register with us online and actively search for your people - visit www.IrelandXO.com and join your parish (or county if you know it).
Come visit your home in Ireland!
Whether your ancestral community finds you, or you find them, you can seek direct genealogical research advice and assistance from them at no cost. In addition, local volunteer community teams, trained in local heritage, are ready to meet you and greet you should you choose to visit Ireland!
