Nicola Brennan is Ireland’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Seychelles and Comoros. She has been 30 years within the Dept of Foreign Affairs as part of the Irish Aid team. She has worked closely with our fellow Jesuit, late Michael J Kelly SJ, and hosted so many of the annual Irish Aid Fr Michael Kelly Lectures on HIV & AIDs.

Nicola’s keynote address was an important segment to our 80th conference reflecting on how mission paved the way for Irish international development, building on our history of struggle for our own independence as a nation, our history of poverty, our history of hunger, our history of emigration and our history of resilience.

“This is what Irish Aid stands for and over the past 50 years Ireland’s overseas development programme has grown – not only in money terms but also in its impact and relevance – and it is now central to Ireland’s foreign policy and global engagement…But while Ireland was looking outwards and fulfilling its international obligations it was Irish missionaries who paved the way for the Irish Aid programme.”

Nicola reminded us of Ronan Murphy’s book ‘Inside Irish Aid: The Impulse to Help’, as former Director General of Irish Aid, where he shared that it was Irish missionaries who sparked the interest Ireland takes in the developing world. His book shares, ‘Ireland had a huge advantage when it started out, in that the missionary tradition had built up a real connection with Africa in particular, which resonated with the Irish public’.

Nicola added, “In each country I have worked in, I have been consistently inspired by the Irish missionaries I have met. In fact, it was missionaries that initially inspired me to work in development and the developing world. I think the story of Irish missionaries helped me to relate to the outside world – to see beyond Ireland. As Mary McAleese said `missionaries helped us to be citizens of the world’.

You can read Nicola’s keynote speech in full here: Nicola Brennan – Irish Aid & Misean Cara – Partners in Development