On Saturday 27th January 2024 in Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, we were honoured to recognise our hard-working President Award Leaders (PALs) from across Ireland at the 2024 PAL Appreciation Awards. Â
 The awards celebrated 15 PALs who have supported young people to take part in the Gaisce programme for more than five years; retiring PALs; and PALs who mentored a Gaisce Gold awardee in 2023. The PALs represented various organisations that work with Gaisce, including post-primary schools, youth organisations, prisons and prison schools.Â
 We were delighted to host two amazing speakers at the event – former Chief Medical Officer of Ireland Dr Tony Holohan and Adam Donovan of Citywise Education. Irish Actor and Writer Tara Flynn added humour and entertainment to the event as event MC. Â
 The PAL Appreciation Awards gives all of us at Gaisce the opportunity to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of all our PALs. Every PAL is a brilliant and dedicated volunteer, and Gaisce would not be the successful programme that it is without the work of our more than 1,300 PALs across Ireland. The role of the President’s Award Leader is at the heart of the ‘One Good Adult’ principle that is at the core of Gaisce. The work of PALs has enabled the success of many young people in Ireland and PALs have been the one good adult in the lives of Gaisce participants.
The awards were a huge success, and we were delighted to have an opportunity to host so many PALs from all over Ireland and show our appreciation for them at an event filled with fascinating speakers, fun, food, and music. We hope to hold many more in the future! Â
