Brisbane Gala Luncheon 2014

12.30 on 17 August 2014
at Victoria Park, Herstone

On behalf of our Chairman John O’Neill AO and the Board of The Australian Ireland Fund we ask you for your continuing support of the Fund and our activities by taking a table at our upcoming annual Brisbane Luncheon.

It will be a wonderful day with great food, company and entertainment whilst at the same time supporting people less fortunate than ourselves.

Ireland has tued a coer, growth has retued and unemployment is thankfully down. For the first time since the devastation of the economic crash, confidence is retuing. However, the road back will be long and punishing and great hardship will still be felt by many so your continued support is crucial. Communities, organisations and institutions are struggling to provide for the great demands they are facing. At a time when public funds are under such pressure, your private philanthropic support is proving a great boost and in many cases, a lifeline.

Here in Australia, with your help we continue to provide vital support for reconciliation and integrated education in Northe Ireland where still only 6% of children are educated in an integrated environment, through Drumragh Integrated College in Omagh and Forge Integrated Primary School in Co. Antrim.

In the Republic of Ireland we continue to support a number of flagship projects:  Baardos Loughlinstown, provides an early year’s service offered to children aged 0 -7 living in areas of high disadvantage. Dadale Belcamp Integrated Childcare Services, works with children with development delays or disabilities and children with emotional difficulties. Both of these projects provide an invaluable service looking after the disadvantaged in an effort to break the cycle of poverty; however both of these projects have had major funding cuts from traditional sources. Junior Achievement Entrepreneur Programme assisting 685 students in Cavan, Monaghan & Sligo and Suas Literacy Programme to assist 1,475 students in Louth & Westmeath.

We are also supporting reconciliation in Australia through the provision of quality education to disadvantaged indigenous young Australians in association with the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, locally to Marist College Ashgrove and St. Peter’s Lutheran College Brisbane.
 
If you have any queries or perhaps suggestions of others that might like to attend, please do not hesitate to contact Melissa on Tel: 02 9357 235002 9357 2350 or email:  mfisher@irlfunds.org.

We would be very grateful for your support.  Please do help us to make a difference, both in Ireland and in Australia.