The support, passion, and commitment of our Irish Heritage Trust volunteers help make Ireland’s heritage properties engaging, accessible, and exciting places to visit.
Every year, our extraordinary volunteers contribute their time, skills, and enthusiasm to the Irish Heritage Trust in all sorts of practical ways. Our staff appreciate their support and insights, just as much as visitors love the authentic welcome and the local knowledge they share.
The award-winning Irish Heritage Trust volunteering programme ensures we can conserve and share access to some of Ireland’s most prestigious properties, museums, and collections in perpetuity. It also helps to strengthen relationships between local communities and the historic properties in their midst.
Get Involved:
Volunteering opportunities vary across our properties and throughout the year, depending on the needs of each place and its community. Whether you have a particular interest or are simply curious to learn more, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch with your preferred property to discuss current opportunities and how your interests, skills and availability might fit.
Get in touch today about volunteering with the Irish Heritage Trust. Email: volunteer@irishheritagetrust.ie
Volunteer Coordinators at each property:
Martina Carroll – Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens, Cork.
Jess Sinnott – Johnstown Castle Estate, Museum & Gardens, Wexford.
Tara Carroll – The National Famine Museum | Strokestown Park, Roscommon.
Why volunteer with the Irish Heritage Trust?
There are many reasons to volunteer, and each person brings their own interests, experiences and motivations. Whatever draws you to heritage volunteering, we want your time with us to be rewarding and enjoyable.
Ways to get involved:
Volunteering with the Irish Heritage Trust takes many forms. The examples below give a sense of the many ways volunteers contribute to our work.
Are you keen to get your hands dirty in our kitchen gardens and formal flowerbeds? Or would you prefer to help us share amazing stories with our visitors from Ireland and beyond?
Whether you’re more at home chatting about the past, fixing a piece of furniture, or marshalling guests at our varied events, we can match you to a role that suits you.
Welcoming and engaging visitors
Caring for heritage and nature
Sharing skills & supporting our work
“Volunteering at Fota is a really positive, enjoyable experience. It’s been great spending time with the other volunteers, from whom I learn a lot, and whose company I enjoy. Interacting with people who come to visit, bringing the story of Fota to life, is rewarding and stimulating. My work in the house or the walled garden has deepened my interest in nature, history, and gardening, and led to a new interest in the history of gardening. Every day of volunteering is a joy.”
Catherine Coakley, Volunteer at Fota House, Arboretum & Gardens
Volunteer Training and Support
If you’d like to volunteer with the Irish Heritage Trust, we won’t push you into one of our ornamental pools at the deep end! You’ll be invited to attend an induction workshop where you can meet the team, find out more about the Irish Heritage Trust, and learn about roles that are available for you to try.
We also provide further training, if it is needed, and opportunities for you to talk to and learn from our experienced staff and volunteers. Every month, our local teams in Wexford, Cork, and Roscommon hold forums where staff and volunteers share information and ideas or take advantage of additional training. Our teams take occasional trips to other properties and hold social events too.
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