Ciste USA Inc. is a new Non Profit Corporation and Registered 501(c)(3)Public Charity dedicated to promoting the Irish language and culture within the context of the Irish Peace Process.

With determined leadership and perseverance, the Peace Process continues to prosper and establish benchmarks of equality and progressive politics that were dismissed as unrealistic a generation ago. Such progress can never be taken for granted, and elements still exist which seek to frustrate or even roll back progress, and the task for all people of goodwill is to continue to promote and support the Process so that the children in the north of Ireland will enjoy the future they deserve.

As Seamus Heaney phrased it, “Not to learn Irish is to miss the opportunity of understanding what life in this country has meant and could mean in a better future."

The celebrated Irish artist Robert Ballagh has donated a complete set of his ‘1916 Leaders’ prints to the Ciste $1m Challenge (more info below) as a raffle prize, and the lucky winner will receive a truly unique and significant artwork to commemorate the 1916 Rising.

Ballagh has received much deserved acclaim from an international audience, and his work has both reflected and shaped perceptions of Irish life and society - the many commissioned portraits of Irish and international figures, the much loved designs for Irish bank notes and postage stamps, the stained glass window for Quinnipiac University's Ireland's Great Hunger Museum, and set designs for theatrical productions such as Beckett's Endgame, Wilde's Salome and the original Riverdance, to name a few.

Five hundred tickets are available at a cost of $100 each.

Click through here to buy a ticket.

Ciste USA Inc. offers a vehicle for supporters in the US of the Peace Process to demonstrate their practical support. The charity evolved from Ciste Infheistíochta Gaeilge,  an examplar model for what the Peace Process makes possible. Ciste Infheistíochta Gaeilge, the Irish Language Investment Fund, has as its mission the creation of the physical infrastructure to accommodate and nurture the vibrant and ever growing Irish language community in the north of Ireland. Established in 2010 as an integral mechanism to advance the Peace Process, and with an initial fund of $12.5 milion, Ciste Infheistíochta has addressed the challenge to redress the inherited results of the endemic neglect, sometimes active hostility, which epitomized the attitude of the ruling establishment towards the Irish language and culture over many generations. Over twenty new capital build projects are already completed or in progress throughout the north of Ireland.

As a US Public Charity, Ciste USA Inc. seeks to enable their existing and prospective networks of supportive and interested parties throughout the United States to become involved in their work, especially with regard to the Ciste $1 Million Dúshlán/Challenge.

The Challenge is to raise $1 million, which will be designated to fund three flagship projects in Armagh, Belfast and Derry. Each of these projects will be active champions for community leadership, the harnessing of local talent, the animation of creative and productive energies and the spirit of discovery and opportunity.



Of course, supporters and donors in the US will have access to the full benefits of tax efficient charitable donations through Ciste USA Inc., as a Non Profit Corporation and Registered 501(c)(3) Public Charity.