The Manchester Mayo Diaspora weekend has been hailed as another major success by Mayo County Council, local TDs and councillors after its sell out concert and business event at the Bonniconlon Show. The weekend, which was supported by Failte Ireland and Mayo.ie, attracted a record-breaking 31,000 to north Mayo during Ireland's Bank Holiday weekend.
Tony Hennigan from the Manchester Mayo Business and Tourism group who organised the events commented: "It has been a fantastic weekend and we are indebted to the Fr Peyton Centre and the Bonniconlon Show for their support for the initiative. This has been a very busy year for the group since we staged the mammoth nine-day Gathering event which was recognised by Tourism Ireland as the biggest 2013 Gathering. In January we were invited to stage the sell out Mayo weekend in Dublin City Hall. The next year looks set to be even busier, Mayo.ie have asked us to help them promote their forthcoming annual World Wide Mayo Day which will be staged on Saturday, May 2 next year as a global celebration of all things related to the county. It has been non-stop since early July when we came over to help promote the 50th anniversary of the Ballina Salmon Festival; we were then asked to help launch Nephin Irish Whiskey and Loretta Jordan's fashion company Erin Bijoux. I would like to thank Edel Sweeney and the Ballina Manor for helping us stage the business and tourism event which is now in its second year and looks set to grow even bigger next year".
The Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Damien Ryan, in his speech at the Business Lunch said: "We are delighted with the support that Mayo Manchester have given to promoting the business and tourism links between Mayo and Manchester, I intend to lead a delegation to Manchester after Christmas to develop this special relationship even more." Peter Hynes, the CEO of Mayo County Council, added: "Mayo.ie have been working very closely with Manchester and other diaspora groups around the world to develop and promote our trade and tourism links, we are very much indebted to the way that Manchester is leading the way". Mayo TD Michelle Mulherin commented: "Tony and Lawrence Hennigan are great promoters of all things Attymass and Mayo related, they are really proud of their roots in the County Mayo and consider their parents’ parish of Attymass to be the centre of the universe and have really put the rural parish firmly on the global map". Deputy Dara Calleary, who officially opened the Bonniconlon Show and attended the lunch, said in his address: "It’s great to see the Mayo Diaspora continuing to support us, the Gathering was a massive success for us in terms of improving our tourism industry and it is great to see groups like Mayo Manchester continuing to work with us here in Mayo". For more information about Mayo Manchester visit www.mayomanchester.com
