“The events of recent years have created an environment of uncertainty and challenges for many organisations in the third sector. Much of the work I have undertaken since I arrived at Irish in Britain in May 2017 has been to repurpose and redesign how we operate and deliver to meet those challenges and ensure that we are a responsive and adaptive membership body.
“Many of the changes we have made were driven by consultation with our membership but also, they are informed by a strategic review of all our services. We are now much more resilient, accountable, transparent and mission–led.
“I believe that given the turbulence and uncertainties of Brexit there is a new community appreciation of being part of a collective. Our recent growth and diversity represent this, and we will always strive to be an inclusive umbrella organisation for all parts of our diaspora.
“As we reflect on what are the values that bind and define us, we must remain open to and engage with these new constituencies, we have always adapted well as an immigrant community, we will continue to do so.
“We have recently ensured that positive Irish contributions are represented in the media where the discussion around migrant contributions generally has often been negative or distorted.
“To that end, we have much to gain by finding and cementing common community interests with other migrant groups and lead the debate about our civil society and its values of inclusion.”
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