NOMINATOR

Name: Jen Murphy
Job Title: Community Fundraising Officer
Organisation: Trócaire

NOMINEE

• Background and Extent of fundraising undertaken: Padraig Fitzgerald born and bred in Kinsale operates his own insurance company in the town. Eleven years ago when his wife Lisa and himself took their honeymoon in Kenya they were appalled at the extent of poverty there and decided to do something positive on their return home. That something was the Trócaire 24 Hour Fast. That was in 1997 and Padraig each year supports the campaign. He has raised over €25,000 for Trócaire's work since that time. I often wonder how he actually gets any work done as he is always promoting the work of Trócaire and looking for ways to raise sponsorship! After the fast launch, Padraig hangs up Trócaire posters all over the town and puts notices in parish and local newsletters to gather support. However, not only does Padraig fundraise for Trócaire - he has set up his own committee in recent years - The Kinsale Peace Project - and has worked alongside Trócaire on events of mutual interest. He helped launch our Global Gift campaign in Christmas 2006 with Justin - the event was such a sell out that we ran out of brochures.

• Distinctiveness of the effort: The amount of money that Padraig has raised since 1997 has enabled us to do fantastic work with poor people all over the globe. The difference with Padraig is that he is relentless in his efforts to fundraise and raise awareness of Trócaire's work. He is very energetic and ambitious and his commitment to Trócaire is overwhelming.

• Longevity: Padraig has been involved in Trocaire since 1997.

• Innovation: Padraig was one of the main instigators in making Kinsale a fairtrade town.Padraig established Kinsale Peace Project in 2007 - the project focuses on peace and justice issues at home and overseas and encourages human rights speakers to visit Kinsale.

• Leading by example: Padraig Fitzgerald leads by example in everything he does to raise awareness of developing world issues locally through Trócaire's Cork Office and the Kinsale Peace Project.  When organising events, he will mobilize his whole community to become involved.  This is especially the case each year when Padraig partakes in Trócaire's 24 Hour Fast. His energy for and commitment to Trócaire is overwhelming. We could not carry out our work were it not for the generosity and solidarity of people here at home like Padraig. In the past 2 years, he has organised talks in Kinsale from Trócaire's Justin Kilcullen and Richard Poole based in Trócaire's Rwandan office, the Israeli and Palestinian Ambassadors to Ireland, an anti-cluster bomb protest, remembering Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Burma, fairtrade coffee growers from Ghana - he even won a prize of an overseas trip to visit a fairtrade project in Malawi from Fairtrade Ireland last year but unfortunately was unable to go due to work commitments at his insurance company - PJ Fitzgerald Insurance Consultants in Kinsale. Every overseas visitor to the town will be brought to the local primary and secondary schools so that they can share their stories and experiences with the younger and eager audiences.  Padraig has even received a personal message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Capetown congratulating him on the work he does to raise awareness of global poverty and injustice especially in the area of fairtrade.