Dermot Costello (1968-2018) founded Wicklow Syria Appeal in 2016. Dermot had chaired the 2003 Wicklow Special Olympics Committee who hosted the Syrian Team.  Dermot and the people of Wicklow had a special connection with the Syrian Athletes who visited in 2003. From the outset Dermot’s vision was to welcome Syrian refugees to Wicklow and support a Syrian family to become part of our community in Wicklow Town, through education, fundraising and community action. Dermot’s inspirational leadership and clear vision for the project enabled him to gather a team of volunteers across the Wicklow community to form Wicklow Syria Appeal.  Dermot was passionate about scaling projects, he wanted Wicklow Syria Appeal to provide an example to others and encourage Irish communities to sponsor refugee families.

As well as being Chairman of Qualtrics in EMEA, Dermot was an active member of Wicklow Sailing Club and Wicklow Rugby Club. Dermot used his incredible talent for building teams to gather friends and colleagues all with different skills to form Wicklow Syria Appeal. WSA initially worked with Schools, fundraising to support NGO’s on the ground in Syria. Taking the project beyond Wicklow Dermot reached out to NGO’s working with refugees and approached Nasc, the migrant and refugee rights centre, to partner with to bring a refugee family to Wicklow. Dermot developed his vision with Nasc and in 2017 Wicklow Syria Appeal partnered with Nasc to bring the first refugee family to Ireland by community sponsorship. Sadly, Dermot passed away in January 2018. Nasc and Wicklow Syria Appeal are proud to continue Dermot’s work. Thank you for bringing us here Dermot Costello.