The Ireland Fund of Canada – a rich history.

The Ireland Fund of Canada, part of the largest worldwide network of people of Irish ancestry and friends of Ireland, is dedicated to raising funds to support programs of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development, in all of Ireland and in Canada.

The Canadian Ireland fund was established in 1978 by Hilary Weston. However, the genesis of the Ireland Funds goes back all the way to 1963 when President John F. Kennedy visited Ireland. During that historic visit, President Kennedy and President Eamon de Valera signed an agreement to form The American Irish Foundation. The mission of this organization was to foster connections between Americans of Irish descent and the country of their ancestry.

In 1976, Dr. Anthony J.F. O'Reilly, former President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of H.J. Heinz Co., created The Ireland Funds with friend and fellow Pittsburgh businessman Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. With a trinity of goals – Peace, Culture and Charity – the Ireland Funds appealed for support for Ireland and its people from all Americans, and especially those of Irish descent. 

Not long after establishing the Ireland Funds in the USA, O’Reilly used his considerable contacts around the world to open up the Ireland Funds in other countries. The very first country after the USA was Canada thereby tapping into the extensive Canadian Irish community.

In a ceremony at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day in 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced the merger and the creation of the new American Ireland Fund. This merger combined Rooney and O’Reilly’s Ireland Fund with the American Irish Foundation. The American Ireland Fund became the USA's and the world's largest private organization funding constructive change throughout the island of Ireland.

Over the intervening years, many other countries established Ireland Funds. Today the Ireland Fund can be found in Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Japan, Monaco, China and the most recent fund, just established last November, in Singapore.

One of the aims of the Ireland Funds around the world is to foster charitable giving in Ireland and to that end an Ireland Fund of Ireland was established several years ago.

The Ireland Funds worldwide have raised over $350 million dollars to fund projects in Ireland and in the countries where the funds were raised. Here in Canada, the Ireland Fund over the past 10 years has contributed around $2.5 million to projects in Ireland and in Canada. Our work in Ireland along with that of our fellow funds around the world has had a profound impact on Ireland. Our combined efforts with integrated schooling in Northern Ireland, bringing kids from across the religious divide in Northern Ireland to camp here in Canada along with numerous other initiatives have had a direct impact on creating conditions for peace and reconciliation in Ireland. Everyone who has ever attended an Ireland Fund event or purchased a ticket should feel very proud of the work we have done.

The impact of the work of the Ireland Funds is well known and respected around the world. Just last December at the launch of the American Pakistan Foundation, Hillary Rodham Clinton held up the Ireland Funds as a model for the American Pakistan community to follow. Here is an excerpt from her speech to the inaugural gala benefit dinner on December 11th, 2009. “Now, this foundation follows in the tradition of other communities of the diaspora here in the United States that have united around their shared heritage to help strengthen ties between their country of origin and family and history and ancestry and their new home.

Another community I know well, the Irish American community, has had great success with this approach. When President Kennedy and Irish President Eamon de Valera launched the American Irish Foundation in 1963, they hoped to foster closer connections between Irish Americans and their ancestral home. But the foundation’s membership and mission expanded over the years, and today, after merging with the Ireland Fund, it is the nation’s – and the world’s – largest private organization supporting economic and social development in Ireland.

And during the 30 years of the troubled and the horrible consequences of the killings and the disruption that ensued, this foundation funded by and motivated by Irish Americans [and people of Irish descent around the world] who believed there could be a better day was often the only organization that could speak to both communities, that could go into a Catholic neighborhood or a Protestant neighborhood and meet people and listen to people. And it created a foundation for the peace that eventually occurred.”

The Ireland Funds and the Ireland Fund of Canada has a rich and proud history. As we embark on our 32nd year, we promise to build upon the great traditions that have been laid down by our predecessors and continue to work hard to enhance the Irish culture in Canada, assist in helping the reconciliation that is still required in Ireland and supporting connections in education between Canada and Ireland.