Help fund our new National Training Centre
and empower a generation of girls

In 2020, we launched a fundraising campaign to enable us to move from our home of fifty years to a new larger home in Dublin 24. In keeping with the ethos of regeneration, we refurbished a building as this was a more environmentally sound option. We took a blank space and built a hub that will extend our impact and empower girls and young women for generations to come.

We would like to thank all who fundraised and supported our cause. In particular, on behalf of the girls and women across Ireland we thank those who :

• -sponsored LEGO Blocks
• -completed Mishon Moon activities
• -held fundraisers for their birthdays
• -donated as part of Irish Girl Guides 110^th Birthday event
• -organised sponsored walks/runs
• -made personal donations
• -became monthly donors through standing orders
• -bought Irish Girl Guides fire-pits
• -provided support through grant aid
• -sought sponsorship of their volunteering from their employers
• -and the list goes on!

However, the costs of construction and materials increased dramatically during this period and the impacts of Brexit, Covid and war all had an influence on the project. But we are delighted to share that we managed to convert 75% of the warehouse into new, modern, spaces where our staff, members and local community can meet, work and train.

The National Training Centre has office spaces, meeting rooms, training zones, a STEM Hub, an Archives Store, the Guide Shop and a fabulous canteen for the all-important cuppa and chats!

We continue to raise funds for the remaining 25% of the building which will see two large activity rooms, additional offices and storage space. If you, or any corporation you know would like to support the next phase, we would be delighted to talk. Any amount that is meaningful to you is meaningful to us.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

Please Donate Here

Donations of €250 or over in a year are eligible for tax relief. €250 is actually worth €362 to Irish Girl Guides – at no extra cost to you. We will email you the relevant form if this applies to you. 

Thank You! 

History of IGG’s National Headquarters

Up to 1935 Irish Guiding had no National Headquarters, but that year, Lady Powerscourt negotiated the lease of the top floor of 4 Dawson Street, which serendipitously has become Trailfinders. The office was sparse to begin with but, in a short piece taken from the history of the move, it was the many kind benefactors who made this a new home:  “To 4 Dawson Street our only piece of furniture, a very small cupboard, was triumphantly removed. Our spirits were then raised by the gift of a cheerful roll of carpeting from the Deputy Chief Commissioner … The Chief Commissioner presented curtains and an invaluable table to which Mrs Lombard Murphy added a cloth, Lady Walsh a blotter and Miss de Selby an inkstand. To her we also owe gratitude for a charming little picture, and to Lady Murphy for a clock, to Miss Kenny for bookshelves, to Miss Dease and Mrs Leigh-White for a carved tray and to Mrs and Miss Beatty for the brass plate on the door.’’

Unexpectedly the lease was not renewed the following November and a new building had to be found. A new home at 28 South Frederick Street was sourced very quickly and Headquarters moved there in November 1936. Guides would hold the lease for 11 years until they moved to 16 St Stephen’s Green in 1947. In 1973 we then leased 27 Pembroke Park and bought it in 1974. Now our onward journey is to an office and warehouse building in Dublin 24, a blank canvas for us to create for the future of IGG.

We need you to become the Miss de Selbys, the Lady Walshes and the Miss Beattys – but to lend innovation instead of curtain linings, ingenuity instead of ink blotters and inspiration in place of bookshelves and brass plates and, most importantly, funding to help create a unique and productive space for our Guides, and the sisters behind them, to become the change makers of the future.