Delegation to visit US in July as part of Project Children

The Cathaoirleach and Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council will travel to Washington and Boston in July to further the transatlantic links arising from the housing of the archives of the US Project Children charity at Monaghan County Museum.

The trip was given the green light by the elected Council members at their June meeting.

“We are looking to strengthen our civic, business and cultural ties,” stated CE Robert Burns when outlining the planned itinerary, which will see himself and the new Cathaoirleach of the Council, expected to be Cllr Aidan Campbell of FG, attend a screening of the Project Children documentary ‘How to Defuse a Bomb’ in Washington on July 14, and a further screening two days later at the University of Massachusetts in Boston hosted by the city’s Irish Cultural Centre and Irish Business Network.

The Chief Executive said the focus of the visit will be to encourage US visitors to come to Monaghan later in the year for a series of Project Children “legacy celebrations” to be launched at Monaghan Peace Campus on October 10.

Meanwhile, on October 13, the Peace Campus will host the launch of a new book on the Project Children initiative by Jane Buckley.

Mr Burns noted that two local students are currently preparing to become the county’s first Project Children interns in the US.

Founded in New York in 1975 by Denis and Pat Mulcahy, Project Children was a peace initiative that brought Protestant and Catholic children from areas of Northern Ireland severely impacted by the Troubles for summer respite vacations in the US. An estimated 23,000 children benefited from its work and the decision to locate its archive at Monaghan Museum as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025 was marked by a series of high-profile civic events.

At the June Council meeting, Cllr Pat Treanor (SF) said the links forged between County Monaghan and Project Children are part of “the continued need for reconciliation”, as well as being important from business and tourism viewpoints. “I propose we continue our involvement and send the delegation,” Cllr Treanor stated.

Seconding, Cllr Raymond Aughey (FF) said Monaghan Town enjoyed huge economic benefit from last year’s Project Children events.

Cllr Aughey also noted that 81 people from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Ireland, with which the county has twinning links, are due to visit the county this year.

Cllr Noel Keelan (SF) saw the delegation as “a reaching out to the Irish diaspora”. He hoped that US visitors to the county in October will visit locations in south Monaghan such as the Carrickmacross Workhouse and Inniskeen’s Patrick Kavanagh Centre.

The outgoing Cathaoirleach, Cllr P.J. O’Hanlon (FF) agreed that the council needs to “tighten up our connections” with the US that are founded on Project Children. “This is something we need to cherish and develop as its benefits for the country are going to be immense,” he predicted. “If we don’t continue, we are doing a disservice to the county.”