A month long festival, aimed at bringing Kerry people who live abroad, back home, has been launched in London.

A joint initiative between Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Global Irish Festival Series aims to encourage diaspora to return home to visit Ireland and will provide funding and support, through Local Authorities, for events that tap into international diaspora networks.

The Kerry version of the Global Irish Festival Series will be known as An Turas Mor – The Big Journey – and will run for the entire month of October this year.

Details were revealed at a special function in the Irish embassy in London on Wednesday evening.

The event was attended by new County Mayor John Francis Flynn, Moira Morell, CEO Kerry County Council and John Griffin, Kerry County Council’s Tourism Officer.

London-based Killarney people at the launch included Tara Cronin and Noel O’Sullivan.

Patrick O’Leary of the Kerry Tourism Industry Federation also attended the launch.

Events in the pipeline include clan gatherings for people who bare the surnames: O’Sullivan, McCarthy, Fitzgerald and O’Connor. They will be honoured with a series of dinner dances over the four weekends in the month of October.

“We are putting together a series of cultural, sporting and business events throughout the whole month of October to encourage Kerry people to come back to their roots,” Mr Griffin told the Killarney Advertiser.

Mayor Flynn said the month-long celebration will be like a re-union.

“So many people, families and friends were unable to travel over the last two years, this will be one of the biggest re-unions ever seen in Kerry.”

Other plans include a special function to reunite as many former winners of the Kerry London Person of the Year.

Noel O’Sullivan, from Ballaugh, the current president of the All Britain GAA Council, is a former winner.