A celebration of all cultures and colours took place on Monday 20th November as friends and members of Ireland’s intercultural community gathered in Dublin for the Media and Multicultural (MAMA) Awards.

The MAMA awards were established in 2002 by Chinedu Onyejelem, editor of Ireland’s first multicultural newspaper, Metro Eireann. They celebrate people, events and institutions in Ireland that have embraced diversity and interculturalism. Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, said these were ‘exciting times’ in Ireland, and the MAMA Awards reflected how Ireland had ‘changed immeasurably’ in the past ten years.

“From being a largely homogenous country with high emigration,” he said, “we have reached full employment and have begun to welcome immigrants to our shores. I feel no other country is in a better position to complete the integration process.

Two winners on the night were Detective Inspector Mary Gormley and Sr Breege Keenan DC, who were presented with the National Action Plan Against Racism and the Judges’ Special Award respectively. Det. Insp. Gormley received the award for her initiatives of inclusion. She was complimented for the significant efforts made to reach out to all communities in Dublin’s north inner city. Sr Breege was presented with the Judges’ Special Award for her efforts in encouraging integration among refugees residing in Ireland. She helped to establish the Vincentian Refugee Centre in Phibsborough, Dublin, which provides advice to immigrants and is visited by 500 people each month.

Accepting the Judges’ Special Award, Sr. Breege said, ‘I really want to thank the volunteers and staff of the Vincentian Centre. There are 22,000 Daughters of Charity worldwide but there’s only one Breege, you’ll be relieved to hear. I am glad to be working at ground level in this arena, and not at the head, but whatever you do, do it with passion and fire in your bellies. I am really excited and surprised…For me it’s a recognition, not just of my work, but of the Vincentian Refugee Centre and all that has gone on there. So many people that I met here tonight have had something to do with the centre in one way or another, so it is really for the centre’.

Seven awards were presented to multicultural and media categories. Among the winners in these categories were the Irish Football Association Northern Ireland for its ‘Football Without Frontiers’ Initiative, and Anne Sheridan for her weekly ‘ Ethnic Limerick’ page in the Limerick Leader. Foras Na Gaelige presented a special award to the Ionad Buail Isteach na Gaelige in Dublin’s Temple Bar for promoting the Irish Language and culture among immigrants. Lucy Gaffney, chairperson of the National Action Plan Against Racism said the awards represented the progress that had been made across Ireland in ‘integrating non-Irish citizens into the swing of everyday life here’.
 
[Incorporating reportage from Steven Carroll, Irish Times, Tuesday 21st November 2007, and Metro Eireann 22-28th November 2007]