Education
The RISE Programme is the name given to our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and forms a key component of our CSR strategy. As part of RISE, we concentrate on one social issue which is currently is education, particularly for the disadvantaged.
We have long held the belief that education is one of the most powerful tools in tackling disadvantage in Ireland. Our lawyers have developed their careers and lives as a result of the opportunities to access education. If members of our community experience barriers and restrictions to accessing education, they won’t reach their full potential or contribute fully to society. To this end, our CSR Committee focuses our CSR activities on education and access projects, working with schools and community groups in our local area and beyond to reduce barriers and disadvantage.
We support education for the disadvantaged in a number of ways:
- By providing funding, in-kind contributions, or other resources to causes which promote awareness about education for the disadvantaged.
- Through direct contributions to charities or causes in the education field.
- By encouraging employees to volunteer their time to support related organisations and causes in our local community.
- By adopting and conducting business practices that support education for the disadvantaged to improve community well-being and protect the environment.
The Engage & Educate Fund
The Engage & Educate Fund was created by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP and Rethink Ireland in partnership with the Government of Ireland.
The €1.2 million Fund aims to back innovative projects that empower young people and adults through education, enabling people from marginalised communities to access game-changing education programmes.
This is the second phase of the Fund, which will run over the next three years. An initial investment of €450,000 from 2017 -2019 supported eleven inspiring projects across 10 counties in Ireland with financial and mentoring support. As a result, these charities reached 5,725 participants and mobilised 1,305 volunteers. This second phase is now worth €1.2 million.
The Engage & Educate Fund aims to work with organisations that empower young people and adults through education and seeks to create opportunity through education. The COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap in education opportunities between differing socio-economic classes and is deepening the negative impact on young people and adults who have left the education system early or are at risk of doing so.
For more information on previous winners, please click on the links below:
UCD Sutherland Opportunity
UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP seeks to help students who face significant economic and societal barriers to participate in transformative educational opportunities, graduate from UCD Sutherland School of Law and progress along a fulfilling career path that will change the trajectory of their lives and contribute to greater diversity in the legal profession and other careers in law.
We want to help ensure that members of all communities in Ireland can study law. We believe that social diversity in the legal professions will mean that lawyers can better represent clients and help all voices to be truly heard.
UCD Sutherland Opportunity supported by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP will provide financial resources for students from under-represented groups to pursue a career in law, thereby helping to realise that vision. Read more
Other activities
Outside of our educational focus, we have historically supported a number of other charities through various initiatives:
- Our MHC Annual Charity Cycle & Hike Afternoon has been a key fundraising date on the calendar over the last 5 years. Proceeds from the event in 2019 went to LauraLynn, Ireland’s only hospice. Both cycle and hike routes brought clients and staff through some of the most scenic parts of Wicklow. We raised €8,000 in total from both events.
- Each year, staff are encouraged to participate in the St. Vincent de Paul Christmas ‘Giving Tree’ Appeal.
- We support "Ireland’s greatest coffee morning”, the annual fundraiser for Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross.
- Each December our staff sing Christmas carols on Grafton Street, raising money for various charities.
- We participate in the annual Calcutta Run in association with the Law Society of Ireland. The charities that benefit from the run are The Hope Foundation and the Peter McVerry Trust.
