The Murphy-O'Sullivan Pub Tour of Ireland

My recent posts about our 25th “Murphy-O’Sullivan Pub Tour of Ireland’” has created a wonderful teaching opportunity. A “Pub” in ireland has a very unique culturally historic social role going back to when ireland was a mostly agrarian society. It means more than a bar, much more, it means the place where the neighborhood folks gather to keep up with each other over a lunch of soup, sandwiches, a cup of tea or a glass of Guinness.  It is also a venue for family dinners, celebrations of First Communions, Confirmations, anniversaries, birthdays and homecomings.

For tourists, its the very best place to meet the natives.

This year’s Pub Tour of 58 people included mostly married and widowed grandparents, some traveling with their children and grand children, many distinguished community leaders, including a Priest who said Mass for us on Sunday, the average age being over 50.

Seven of the tour cohorts used the tour to reunite with their relatives in Ireland [in Pubs over dinner and lunch].  Most of the days were spent bus-touring to enjoy the fantastic beauty of this very precious source of people who helped make America so great since Revolutionary times.

To suggest it was all about “Boozing” is an ethnic slur based on ignorance which its author dare do if it were about people of another race, religion or national origin.