“He who opens a school door, closes a prison” – Victor Hugo

Lewis Mooney reflects on his community service with Helping Hands, Belfast For more than three decades, the questions asked were about the causes and consequences of the conflict in, and over Northern Ireland, they had to be because this is what needed addressed at first. However rarely were the questions of how to rectify the … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difference

Philip O’Callaghan reflects on his journey to Belfast and WIP Orientation The weeks seemed to pass by so quickly and the weekend in Belfast was upon us. After all the logistics has been organised a two car convoy left DCU for Belfast. The chat continued fiercely as we left Dublin, the small talk was well … Continue reading →

The Experience Has Started

Philip O’Callaghan on being invited to join the Class of 2012 So the interview was completed, I could do no more. As I walked back to the DART I began to question my performance, had I done my best, was I given the opportunity to express who I really was. The exact details of the … Continue reading →

Meals on Wheels in Waterford

Vickie Kiely about the great work of Meals on Wheels in her home town of Tramore. As a part of my 30 hours Washington Ireland Program public service I worked with my local Meals on Wheels service in Tramore, County Waterford. I helped to prepare the meals and accompanied the drivers on their delivery routes … Continue reading →

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

As we travelled to Belfast as three new WIP classmates, making idle small talk, I don’t think any of us knew what to expect for our orientation but we were certainly aware of how little we knew about the place where we were going.

WIP Alumni host the American Council for Young Political Leaders

WIP was delighted to organise a discussion on the “Political Scene in Northern Ireland and the US” with a visiting delegation from theAmerican Council of Young Political Leaders on Wednesday (16th May). The discussion was kindly hosted by the Bar Council of Northern Ireland at the Inns of Court in Belfast and brought together WIP Alumni, members of … Continue reading →

WIP on TheHill.com

This article is from TheHill.com’s Congress Blog – available here. Ten years ago I travelled to the U.S. as a participant of the Washington Ireland Program for Service & Leadership – a project that supports and inspires young leaders from diverse backgrounds across Ireland and Northern Ireland during a summer in Washington, D.C. It is … Continue reading →

Chris Lyttle launches the WIP Class of 2012

We were honored to have WIP alumnus Chris Lyttle, Class of 2002, formally announce the Class of 2012 to WIP’s corporate sponsors, Board, internship placements and fellow alumni at a breakfast held at the WIP offices.

Rebecca Dwyer Engineers the Future!

Project Outline As part of my pre-departure expectations for the Washington Ireland Program (WIP), I must complete at least thirty hours of public service within my own community at home here in Ireland. My public service project involved an outreach event called ‘Engineering Your Future!’ which was organised and hosted by the UCD College of … Continue reading →