In November 2025, we had a request for some ambassadors to meet Minister Colm Brophy and his team in Wexford, with the words, “The Minister would like to meet people from Sanctuary Ambassadors, which is one of our excellent projects!”
We met in Wexford County Council – it’s the natural choice for us, and the Minister was very happy about how closely we work with the Integration Team and the council. The Chief Executive, the County Cathaoirleach and a Senator came along, as did the Principal of a Sanctuary School. But the main focus of the meeting was hearing from the Sanctuary Ambassadors themselves. We were very pleased at the genuine interest the Minister had, and how knowledgeable he was about several countries and situations that were mentioned, and how he gave plenty of time and attention to each Ambassador. In the South East, a few sixth years have joined the Sanctuary Ambassador group; this is a really positive step as it eases the transition between being a sanctuary ambassador in school and college or university, as well as enhancing both programmes. Two of these leaders were among the ambassadors sharing and all the visitors commented how wonderful it was to see ambassadors linking in with schools. It means that schools get to hear directly about the life of sanctuary ambassadors and the challenges they face, and ambassadors get a stronger connection with the education system