My Fellowship journey was to India to explore how a shoe-making company there had thrived, giving work to many who otherwise would have been in very poor living conditions.

I had worked before this in Kenya, in a craft venture that, likewise, gave people a chance to earn the money they needed to live. On returning home from Africa I had embarked on shoe-making training with the aspiration of returning to Africa with a tangible skill to share. I was so grateful that the Trustees accepted this as a viable intention in the context of the awards.

In 1990, on coming to live in Eire, I met people of the traveller community and learnt of the hurdles they face in almost all walks of life. The more I discovered, the more these dynamics seemed akin to 'apartheid' measures – almost invisible to the wider public, yet a result of tangible policy objectives. To bring these into the open, for amendment, became the task I believed would honour the first principles of our Fellowships – with opportunity comes responsibility.

What one could call 'whistle-blower' punishments have followed. Although very daunted at times, I have found hope restored through recalling the trust we've been given.