Celebrating All Things Irish

The 40th edition of The Ireland Funds St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon was held Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, attracting more than 1,000 people.

The mission of the Fund is “to harness the power of a global philanthropic network of friends of Ireland to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development across the island of Ireland and among Irish communities around the world.”

In the past 40 years, the Fund has raised more than $550 million.

Honoured at this year’s luncheon was General de Chastelain, a retired Canadian Forces officer, the former head of Canada’s military and former Ambassador of Canada to the US. He played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process and was chair of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. He also helped forge the Belfast agreement, the blueprint for peace in Northern Ireland, signed on Good Friday, 1998.

Pictured at the event, and hosted by Tourism Ireland, are (l-r) Sabina Steffensen, Air Canada, Wolf Paunic, Trafalgar, Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland, Erin Oddleifson, Transat, and Brett Walker, Collette.