The Irish Military Heritage Foundation CLG is a non-profit charity registered in the Republic of Ireland.
Company Registration No: (CRN) 624838
Charity No: (RCN) 20203159
CHY No: (CHY) 22594
Our Why – preserve, record, and tell the story of those who served from the island of Ireland, and generate programmes and projects to achieve that purpose
Mission Statement
The Irish Military Heritage Foundation fosters the heritage and traditions of the Irish Diaspora within Armed Forces around the world; educates, records, promotes, and preserves the accomplishments of the Irish Diaspora within that tradition; unites, collects, and records the personal accounts of Irish men and women and those of Irish descent who have served and continue to serve worldwide. The information gathered is then made available in multimedia formats on a free public access website.
Goals
The Irish Military Heritage Foundation has five core goals:
- To preserve the contribution made by the Irish at home and abroad
- To explore Ireland’s historical narrative in a non-biased manner
- To develop a better understanding of Irish identity
- To record and tell personal and family stories at local, national, and international levels
- To generate appropriate dialogue and engagement on these and related issues on the Island of Ireland and within the wider diaspora
Activity Pillars:
The Irish Military Heritage Foundation operates within four activity pillars:
Identity
Defining Irish identity has never been straightforward due to the island’s long and turbulent history. Promoting a better understanding of culture, diversity, belonging, and competing historical narratives can facilitate a better understanding of what it is to be Irish in the 21st century.
Engagement
Engagement with archives, communities, educators, government, historical groups, media, museums, people, and state agencies is a core activity of the Foundation. The work employs a wide variety of mediums including conversation, conferences, multimedia productions, research programmes and symposiums.
By employing multimedia formats – articles, digital media, live broadcasts, podcasts, and video -the story of Ireland’s past and present is communicated and brought to life on various platforms.
Our multimedia approach affords easy access for decision-makers, educators, students, tourists, and members of the public of all ages and demographics thereby enabling informed discussion and debate in a wider context.
Diaspora
In excess of 70 million people around the world identify as being Irish or of Irish lineage. Connecting with the diaspora and exploring their experience, recording their stories, and understanding their perspectives is a driver in modern Irish society. For posterity it is a priority activity. Their story is our story and impacts significantly on the evolution of our nation.
History
Recording the personal accounts and stories of individual people is at the heart of the Foundation. Personal accounts give individuals and communities a voice from the past and a window to the future. Given the competition between at least three macro historical narratives (Nationalist, Unionist and Republican) with corresponding definitions of Irishness, affording individuals the opportunity to state their case in order to correct the narrative has never been more important.
The Foundation therefore endeavours to introduce balance into historical debate and discussion in order to provide a more holistic understanding of our shared experience, shared history, and mutual inter-dependency going forward.
Programmes
The Foundation conducts its activities through several programmes, which in turn carry out projects. The current programmes in development are:
- Ireland’s Military Story – The Foundation’s primary platform exploring Ireland’s global culture, heritage, history, and identity within armed forces
- The Speaker William Conolly Summer School – exploring Irish identity, diversity, and reconciliation
- An Seanchaí/The Storyteller – the Foundation’s oral history programme
- Ireland’s Great War – a joint programme with the Somme Association/Museum, exploring a shared history for a better future
Key Statement
Ireland’s history is complex and multi-dimensional. Understanding competing identities and traditions is central to building a better future for everyone on our island. The Irish Military Heritage Foundation, through its four activity pillars, seeks to explore these issues and promote a better understanding of where we came from in order that decision-makers and educators are informed and enabled to face the future.