Máirín Martin

Máirín Martin is Chairperson of Ballinamore Area Community Council Clg and is the driving force behind the committee and the key “go-to person” in her community. Recently awarded a ‘Life Time Volunteer Achievement’ for over 30 years of volunteering in her community, having previously been awarded ‘Leitrim Person of the Year’ for Investing in People & Changing Perspectives.

Having worked with Coiste Network on a programme for ex political prisoners, combatants, and their families, Máirín gained extensive experience in how to improve outcomes for and promote the positive development of communities dealing with division.

Máirín has also gained further experience through the International Fund for Ireland Peace Impact Programme, cross border/cross-community, in Leitrim/Fermanagh and throughout the six counties. In 2022, Máirín was honoured to be selected by the IFI, to participate in the AMBIT 2022 programme, to undergo a two-week visit to El Paso and Washington DC, to study multiple identities in a shared space, conflict, and trauma. She was also selected to
attend The Irish College in Leuven, Belgium to participate in the “Peace 25: Everyday Peacemakers” high-level Conference to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Máirín grew up in close proximity to the border, in the North of Ireland, during the Troubles. She is from a Nationalist/Catholic background. She was acutely aware that the segregated schools’ system built barriers between two religious cultures and caused mistrust and fear and this empowered her to play a very active role in her community. Máirín continues to break down barriers and reach out to communities on a cross-border/cross-community basis. Since joining AMBIT, she has formed firm friendships with members of cross- community groups with whom she would previously not have had the opportunity to do so.