VIDEO: Galway youth organisation release powerful response to 'Ireland Inspires' viral hit

A group set up to highlight social and economic issues affecting young people has released a video in response to the ‘Ireland Inspires’ tourism initiative that went viral last week.

Thu, 20 Mar, 2014 - 00:00

Peter O’Dwyer

'We’re Not Leaving Galway' posted a video entitled ‘Brand Ireland’ on YouTube which they claim is a more accurate representation of life in Ireland.

Like the original, WNL Galway’s re-thinking of the tourism campaign is set to the tune of James Vincent McMorrow’s ‘Higher Love’ at the beginning, and later to Saul Williams’s ‘List of Demands’.

A number of the original scenes are also used.

The powerful video deals with a number of social issues through a series of captions, including homelessness; emigration; the health service; suicide rates and youth unemployment.

“Over 6 million of us live here...but over 250 of us leave every day,” one of the captions reads.

Aisling Ní Fhrighil of WNL Galway explained that the motivation behind the video came from a feeling that the issues faced by young Irish people had been repeatedly ignored.

"Young people have been let down by this country time and time again. When we saw the Fáilte Ireland video we were angered. Angered at how the problems being faced by young people and by Ireland in general were being glossed over and ignored once more," she said.

"We felt the images Fáilte Ireland were projecting to be deeply misleading. This is why we decided to make our own version," she added.

The video, that you can see below, ends on a more positive note however, with a number of positive aspects of Irish society and culture highlighted.