The Global Irish…

Heritage and culture, ingenuity and aspiration, goodwill, and a chance to show how, when things get wobbly, we shake off the dust and find new ways to do things, wherever we are.

Change Management Courses For Government Ministers

When a professional company employs someone it provides the appropriate training to equip that person to do the job. It’s an investment that strengthens both the organisation and the individual.

When someone is elected into public office we automatically expect them to have the necessary skills.

The recently introduced Household Charge is a classic example of how things go wrong when change isn’t managed. 1.6 million Irish home owners were expected to pay €100 by 31st March 2012, however 50% chose not to do so for various reasons. The government stated it was forced into an aggressive timeline due to a commitment given to the IMF by the previous government.

In the private sector this would be viewed as a project in a critical condition, and if it was a supplier-client relationship the uncomfortable subject of penalties would be on the table. As it is we’re looking at additional public expenditure and ongoing issues as the problem gets handed over to local authorities.

One of the core roles of a minister is to introduce change. The minister is the primary sponsor and holds overall responsibility for seeing those changes through to conclusion. Change management encapsulates a set of disciplines necessary to deliver change in a successful manner, and is designed to prevent the type of difficulties experienced with the household charge.

If the principles of change management were fully employed Ireland would not have agreed to a timeline until the full scope and parameters had been defined, and a detailed implementation plan produced and approved. The IMF might not have liked it, but they would have understood the language and hopefully respected the professionalism.

Ireland has to make a number of major changes over the coming years, and attention to detail will go a long way in achieving objectives. Government ministers don’t need to be project managers, but it would be beneficial if they knew exactly what to expect from those who manage change on their behalf.

Happy St Patricks Day

Happy St Patricks Day everyone. We’re just off out the door to our local parade and isn’t Bernadette looking just glorious with her Seamróg…

Followed by a pint of guinness and the England v Ireland rugby match on TV, and maybe catch some of the Fadó Festival in Bantry later.

Hope you all have a great time today wherever you are.

Slainte,

Bernadette and Mick.

Ireland Reaching Out

Back in October 2010 the ‘South East Galway Diaspora Pilot Project’ appeared on the radar. It was the seed of a great idea involving 30 local parishes who sought to make contact with Irish descendents abroad who had a family link to the Loughrea electoral area. The target was to reach out to 44,000 of the diaspora and attempt to attract a small number to visit their ancestral parishes and townlands in 2011.

The inaugural ‘week of welcomes’, which ran from 26th June to 2nd July 2011, was both a learning exercise and a brilliant success. Many of those who visited did so for the first time and by all accounts it turned out to be an exciting and emotional experience.

Since then the momentum and support behind the project has grown significantly and, having won the top prize for “Best Community Project” in the country at the prestigious LAMA (Local Authority Members Awards) in February this year, is now set to expand nationally across 2,500 parishes around the country.

If it delivers on its promise, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t given the goodwill and the army of enthusiastic community volunteers behind it, this still looks on track to be the most meaningful diaspora project on the horizon.

Irish Toronto

In the summer of 1847 38,000 Irish fleeing the Great Famine landed in Toronto, a city of 20,000. Arriving destitute, and in many cases extremely ill, the story of ‘Black 47′ (or ‘the year of the Irish’) is well documented both in terms of Canadian sacrice, and the impact the influx had on local communities.

Equally recorded is the welcoming hand of friendship, and the economic and cultural contribution of the Irish to Toronto and Canada as a whole, and those early experiences and the shared history have created a relationship between the people of the two nations that continues to grow.

Now, 165 years later, Toronto is again receiving the Irish, however this time it’s a different picture. Arriving healthy, educated, and with the energy and enthusiasm of youth, todays emigrants offer an immediate benefit to Canada; and sadly, just as immediate a loss to Ireland.

The following short film, directed by Barbara Deignan and Cian McDevitt (facebook.com/diasporashortfilm), with music by Valery Gore, ‘highlights the fears and hopes of those calling the city their new home’. It’s a gem that invokes different sentiments depending on your perspective, and it captures a moment in modern Irish history.

Made in association with the Toronto Irish Film Festival 2012

Ireland Inspires

The Federation of Irish Societies recently launched their ‘Ireland Inspires’ cultural showcase to celebrate the contribution of the Irish community in Britain to arts, culture and sport.

In recognition of the wealth of artistic and sporting excellence within the Irish community in Britain, they will be helping organisations and individuals raise their profile to wider audiences in the context of the Cultural Olympiad, 2012.

Focused on art, poetry, sport, music, dance and stories, the Irish in Britain are invited to contribute by telling the federation what aspects of Irish cultural life you find most inspiring. Equally, if you are an individual artist, arts organisation or sporting team with Irish connections you can get in touch with them and help build a showcase of the very best of Irish culture in Britain.

The 2012 showcase is part of a strategy that extends to 2016 and you can find out more by visiting their website irishinbritain.org, joining them on Facebook, or by clicking on the image below.