The Gaelic Athletic Association/Cumm Lúthchleas Gael is a 32-county sporting and cultural organisation that has presence on all five continents. 

The Gaelic Athletic Associate (GAA) is Ireland’s largest sporting organisation. It is celebrated as one of the great amateur sporting associations in the world.

It is part of the Irish consciousness and plays an influential role in Irish society that extends far beyond the basic aim of promoting Gaelic games.

Each year, the Foundation has the privilege to publish a supplement in The Irish Independent “The People’s Flag” to celebrate Flag Day. It includes highlights of what our community of schools have been doing to celebrate the Irish flag and it’s message, educational and learning resources relating to the national Flag and its history along with updates on the Foundation’s activities.

The Irish Independent has been published in Ireland since 1905, today it has over 500,000 readers per day, published by Mediahaus Ireland (formally Independent News and Media, or INM).

TG4 (Teilifís na Gaeilge) is Ireland’s public-service, Irish-language television channel, broadcasting a diverse range of cultural, sporting, drama, and children’s programming as Gaelige (in Irish).  The Thomas F. Meagher Foundation is delighted to have worked closely with TG4 on the Irish-language translations of our work since our establishment in 2013.

The HTAI is the only professional body whose sole purpose is to represent the interests of those involved in teaching history. 

Each year, we are lucky enough to have their help in contributing lesson plans to our annual supplement in the Irish independent. 

• The HTAI aims to protect and foster the role of history within the Irish education system.
• To encourage the better teaching of history by keeping Irish history teachers in contact with new developments in historical research and new approaches to history education.
• To keep Irish history teachers in touch with international thinking on education through affiliation with Euroclio and other international bodies.

Foróige is the leading youth organisation in Ireland and has been working with young people since 1952.  Our purpose is to enable young people to involve themselves consciously and actively in their development and in the development of society.

We work with over 50,000 young people aged 10-18 each year through volunteer-led clubs and staff-led youth projects. Foróige currently operates in 26 counties in Ireland, with more than 600 Foróige clubs, 150 youth projects, the big brother big sister mentoring programme, the Foróige youth entrepreneurship programme, our youth citizenship and youth leadership programmes.

Foróige works with all young people through our general services. Foróige clubs, Foróige juniors, Foróige interest clubs, Foróige youth cafés encourage young people to take responsibility for themselves and to be part of shaping the world around them while developing their talents, skills and abilities. We also work with vulnerable young people who require additional support through a full range of targeted services. 

Targeted services such as garda youth diversion projects, teen parent support programmes and neighbourhood youth projects, help young people to deal with issues associated with poverty, marginalisation and social exclusion, under-achievement at school, early school leaving, youth crime, substance abuse and family difficulties in a safe friendly environment. 

All Foróige clubs, projects, services and programmes are designed to achieve these outcomes in a developmental and fun way, by:

1. Building self-esteem and confidence through challenging experiences
2. Develop the ability to manage personal and social relationships
3. Providing learning opportunities which enable youth to gain knowledge and develop new skills
4. Build young people’s capacity to consider risks and consequences, make informed decisions and take responsibility

www.foroige.ie

Each year, the Foundation has the privilege of working with An Post to distribute our Flag Day packs to all registered schools. These packs include new Irish flags, produced by the same company that manufactures the flags for the Irish Defence Forces, along with teaching resources for use in the classroom.

An Post is Ireland’s national postal service provider, delivering a universal postal service all over Ireland and Nationawide.

The Foundation is delighted to have been a Challenge Partner with Gaisce – The President’s Award since 2018, enabling students to combine their Flag Day activities with the requirements for the Gaisce Bronze Award.

“At Gaisce – The President’s Award, we share the same values of inclusion and equality that Thomas F. Meagher championed when he first flew what would become the Irish National Flag in his native city at the Wolf Tone Club in Waterford. Our vision is an Ireland where every young person, regardless of their circumstances, ethnicity, creed, or gender, has equal access to participate and take on the President’s Challenge — to dream big and fulfil their potential.”

As a Challenge Partner of Gaisce – The President’s Award, students can choose to use their Flag Day activities as part of the requirements for earning their Gaisce Bronze Award.