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You're reading Does anyone know what a pioneer pin is for? (I only heard of them tonight)
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Comments
great answer!
by passerby on April 25th, 2007
Hi. As a Pioneer myself and a person who works with the association on a daily basis here in Ireland, I can absolutely say that the Pioneer Assoc (1898-date) is definitely not anti-alcohol in anyway what so ever. The aim of the Pioneers is to promote moderate use of alcohol in society generally. The membership choose for any number of reason, usually religious or social reasons, not to take alcohol themselves. Membership generally believe that this non-obtrusive example of their own abstinence helps promote moderation in society. So all in all, its not exactly rocket science. How effective have the Pioneers been? Well in today's society it is competing against intensive and sophisticated alcohol advertising and with a general secularisation of society and less control of the Church (not necessarily a bad thing) the pool of people from which the Pioneers would have looked to for membership is declining. That said, the reputation of the hard drinking Irish was until perhaps the mid 1980s relatively unjustified in comparison to other European countries. Ireland still has one of the highest, if not the highest number of abstainers from alcohol per capita of population in Europe today. The influence of the Pioneers in society up until the 1970s was substantial to say the least with membership peaking at 500,000 out of about 4million. It is currently estimated at about 150,000. The official website of the Pioneers is now www.pioneerassociation.ie For a comprehensive history of the Pioneers read historian Diarmaid Ferriters 1999 book "A nation of extremes - the Pioneers in twentieth century Ireland"
To answer the original question, the Pioneer Pin is a heart shaped pin, featuring a image representing the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Different pins are worn depending how long a person is a Pioneer - ie a young person/ temporary commitment , 25yr or 50yr or life long membership.
I hope you find this explanation of the Pioneers as useful and fair,
D
by irelands-eye on March 15th, 2010