Pictured above: L-R: Rt. Hon The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Mickey Murray; Harry Murphy, Artillery Youth Centre; Adrian Dunbar, IYF (UK) Patron; John Dwyer, Chairman of IYF (UK)
The Rt. Hon The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Mickey Murray hosted the 2025 reception in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour in City Hall, Belfast.
We were delighted that our Patron, Adrian Dunbar, was able to join us at the reception for the first time and was impressed with the whole experience, commenting “It was very inspirational and good to hear the testimony from some of the projects supported. It made it less abstract, seeing the real, real, impact the grants make.”
The reception allowed us to celebrate and recognise the projects that have received grants. We have maintained and increased funding for NI organisations and made awards totalling £118,000 this year to welfare, educational and cultural groups working with disadvantaged young people and their families in Northern Ireland, and to Irish students at universities and colleges in the UK.
In 2024 grants of £56,000 were awarded to ten welfare organisations and community groups.
This year it is 20 years since the Irish Youth Foundation formally incorporated the Lawlor Foundation. We are proud to continue its contribution towards the advancement of education in Northern Ireland. This academic year we are supporting disadvantaged pupils from all community backgrounds through the Lawlor Education Grants programme for Irish students at schools, colleges and universities in the UK.
In addition, a total of £40,000 this academic year has been awarded to headmasters and principals of 10 schools and colleges, to use at their discretion for supporting disadvantaged pupils from all communities. This includes funding for sports kit, computers, school trips, enhanced school facilities etc. and a further £2,000 is supporting four individual students studying at colleges and universities.
Hearing from representatives of many of the projects we supported was enlightening and heartwarming. It was interesting to discover how grants had been used to make a real difference to young people’s lives – and their futures.
We are also excited to announce that we have inaugurated a new IYF Bursary. This is a two-year programme supported by Giving|Grousbeck Fazzalari in association with Queen’s University Belfast Foundation and Ulster University. The Bursary aims to introduce young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or with otherwise limited means, to experience university and widen their potential educational horizons and lifetime aspirations. Each university will receive £10,000 for 2024-5 and 2025-6.
L-R: Dr Martin McMullan, IYF (UK) NI Trustee; one of the project representatives; John Dwyer, Chairman of IYF (UK); The Rt. Hon The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Mickey Murray
June Trimble MBE, John McCormick MBE & Virginia Lawlor, members of the IYF (UK) NI Advisory Committee