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Board Members

Paddy Harte

Chairman

Mr Harte has been a member of the Board of the International Fund for Ireland since March 2015 and was appointed Chair in March 2019. He has more than two decades of experience and expertise in economic development and peace building work.

He is a former Board Member of the cross-border finance company Ulster Community Investment Trust (now Community Finance Ireland) and the Collins Institute think-tank. He has served on the boards of a number of economic development boards including chairing the very successful Donegal Gathering. He has also worked as a leadership coach with a coalition of cross-party MLAs at the William J Clinton Leadership Institute, Belfast.


Bernie Butler

Board Member

Mrs Butler is a successful business person in the Food sector, as the CEO and one of the founder members of the family run business Good4U with sites in Sligo and Tyrone. Bernie has been at the cutting edge of the food industry for the past 30 years.


In addition to being a Board Member of the International Fund for Ireland, Bernie serves her local community as a member of the Sligo Economic Forum. Other positions held by Bernie include: Chair of Fáilte Ireland North West, Chair of The Model, Sligo, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centres and well known art collections, Member of the Creative Sligo Initiative, and Board Member of St Angela’s Food Technology Centre Sligo.


Anne Carr

Board Member

Mrs Carr has worked with women in grassroots communities.She was part of the Women Together Programme and also involved in the creation of Community Dialogue. Anne has also worked with the Women Without Borders organisation, facilitating a story sharing project in India, bringing together family members bereaved in the 2012 Mumbai attacks.

She has been facilitating and developing Community Dialogue’s “Peace Process According to Women” project in partnership with Women’s Information Northern Ireland. This project follows a reflection, acknowledgement and shared progress process.

In 2008 she received the Community Relations Council Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Community Relations.


Avila Kilmurray

Board Member

Dr. Kilmurray was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, she was involved in negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement. Currently, Avila is a Programme Manager with The Social Change Initiative, an international NGO working to strengthen civil society activism and advocacy in human rights, migration issues and peace building.

Avila was the Director of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, she also acted as Regional Coordinator of the Rural Action Project (NI) and was Development Officer with the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action; a founder member of the Foundations for Peace Network - a peer learning network of independent foundations working in conflict-affected environments and serves on the Board of the St. Stephen’s Green Trust (Ireland). She is also a member of the Transition Assistance Practice Expert Group of IFIT that supports peace building initiatives on a global basis


Sadie Ward McDermott

Board Member

Mrs Ward-McDermott has been working in Education and Training for over 25 years. Sadie started her career as a teacher and then took a post with the Louth VEC (Vocational Education Committee) working as an Adult Education Officer.

Sadie is currently employed as Director of Further Education and Training with the Louth Meath Education and Training Board. This work encompasses working in partnership with other agencies, to deliver peace programmes alongside provision on behalf of Government in the following areas: Adult and Community education, programmes targeting young persons not engaged in education/training, training to enable up-skilling of current workforce, supporting employers to grow skills development in company, and Further Education Colleges.



Peter Osborne

Board Member

Mr Osborne has been involved in political engagement, policy, participation, dispute resolution and reconciliation. He leads Rubicon undertaking a number and range of audits, strategies, mediations and planning. Peter is chair of the regional board of Remembering Srebrenica; and chairs the ARK Advisory Board, a joint social policy initiative by Northern Ireland’s two universities (QUB and UU).

Peter was an elected representative for 12 years during which time he was a delegate to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation and to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement process. He was a director of the Building Change Trust; led the founding of the Open Government Network; chaired the Community Relations Council and chaired the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland.


For further information about our funding programmes, or for information on how to apply for funding, please contact the person(s) or organisation(s) identifed at the end of the relevant programme summary in the areas of activity section.

Belfast Office

International Fund for Ireland
Seatem House
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+44 (0)28 9031 2884

Dublin Office

International Fund for Ireland
PO Box 2000
Dublin 2 

+353 1 408 2731
 
IUKA.InternationalFundIre@dfa.ie


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