Bring your family home to Ireland
Who this is for
Most of the groups we look after are family associations and societies in the United States, Canada and Australia. Some are a formal association with an AGM attached. Some are one extended family of twenty who have traced the name back to a townland and want to stand in it.
The problem is the same either way. Committee members are volunteers, they are several time zones from the suppliers, and the places that actually matter to an Irish family are townlands, ruined churches and burial grounds that never appear in a tour brochure. That is the part we do.
Irish families in the A to Z
Irish heritage works differently from the Scottish clan system. Most Irish names are septs tied to a territory rather than to a chief and a tartan, so we build the week around the place the name came out of. These are some of the largest:
These nine are live now in the clan and family name A to Z, alongside the Scottish and English names. Sixteen more Irish families are written and waiting, including O’Neill, Murphy, Kelly, McCarthy, Walsh, Ryan, Kennedy and Maguire. If yours is not showing yet, tell us and we will prioritise it.
A note on tartan
Irish families are often sold a “county tartan”. Those setts are a commercial invention from the 1990s and have no historic basis, so we do not put one on an Irish page and pretend otherwise. Where a family has genuine arms we use those colours instead, and where the arms are contested we use the colours of the province. Societies notice the difference, and it is the kind of detail that earns trust.
How a gathering comes together
We start with the family, not the map
Tell us the name and any county or line you know. We work back to the sept territory, the castles, the abbeys and the burial grounds still standing, and come back with what is realistically visitable.
You get an outline and a per-person price
A day-by-day outline with hotels, coaches, guides, meals and entrances priced at a per-person rate your committee can put in front of members. No obligation and no charge to get to that point.
We open the doors you cannot open from abroad
Private access to houses, castles and churches outside public hours, a piper at the door, a local historian who knows the parish, a room for the AGM, and the introductions that only get made by someone who lives here.
We run it while you enjoy it
A Cashel Travel manager is with the group throughout. Your committee members get to be guests at their own gathering, which after two years of organising it is usually the point.
What we arrange
Hotels and country houses
Group rates held on option while your members confirm, including exclusive-use houses and castle hotels where the numbers suit it.
Coaches and transfers
Airport meets, luggage, and drivers who know the boreens the itinerary usually ends up on.
Guides and genealogists
Local guides, plus genealogists who work the Griffith’s Valuation, tithe applotment books and parish registers.
Private access
Castles, abbeys, churches and burial grounds opened outside normal hours, subject to the owner or the parish.
Dinners, music and pipers
Gala dinner, traditional musicians, pipers, whiskey tastings, and a room for the AGM or association business.
The admin nobody wants
Rooming lists, dietaries, accessibility, payment schedules and the one member who books their own flights late.
Book 20 places, get 2 free
On group tours, every 20 confirmed places carry 2 free places. Most associations put those against the committee members who did the organising, or use them to bring the price per member down.
When to travel
May, June and September give the best combination of daylight, weather and availability, either side of the July and August peak. If you want the week to land on a specific family gathering, a local festival or a parish anniversary, we work backwards from that date.
A full association gathering wants 12 to 18 months’ lead time, because country house and castle hotels of the right size are few and go early. A smaller family group of 15 to 25 can be turned around in a few months.
Irish family tour questions
We are a family association committee, not travel agents. Where do we start?
Send us the family name, the rough number of travelling members and the year you have in mind. We come back with an outline itinerary and a per-person price your committee can circulate. There is no charge and no commitment to get to that stage.
Our name has septs in three different counties. Which one is ours?
That is very common with Irish names, and it is the single most useful thing to settle before the itinerary is built. We bring in a genealogist first, because whichever county the records point to usually changes where the whole week goes.
Is there an Irish tartan for our family?
Honestly, no. Irish county and family tartans were created commercially in the 1990s and have no historic basis. Where your family has genuine arms we will use those, and we will tell you plainly which is which rather than sell you a sett that was invented in living memory.
How far ahead should an association book?
For a full gathering, 12 to 18 months. Houses and castle hotels that can take a whole association are limited in number and are booked a long way out. A smaller family group of 15 to 25 people can usually be arranged within a few months.
Can we combine Ireland and Scotland in one trip?
Yes, and a lot of groups do, particularly Ulster-Scots families whose line runs through both. We handle both sides with our own team, so it is one itinerary and one point of contact rather than two operators.
Do you handle flights?
We handle everything from arrival. Members generally book their own flights, and we meet them at the airport and take it from there. If it helps we will set arrival and departure windows so the transfers work for everybody.
Bringing your family to Ireland?
Tell us the name and the rough numbers. We will come back with an outline of the week and a per-person price, at no charge.