Welcome to the Sunshine Fund Site

The Sunshine Fund is a unique part of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Ireland. Since 1935, we have been providing summer holidays free-of-charge to children aged between 7 and 11 from areas of disadvantage across Dublin and neighbouring counties at our holiday centre in Balbriggan - a small seaside town north of Dublin city.

Special holiday packages are also organised for children from outside this area. Our holiday centre is purpose built and equipped to host over 1,300 children annually in a season of 14 week-long (Saturday to Saturday) holidays.

The operation is managed by SVP volunteers; it takes at least 270 volunteers, in teams up to 20, supported by a paid catering and household staff of 20 to operate the holiday centre.

Men and women from all walks of life and all ages offer seven days of their summer to care for each group of up to 100 children on holidays. They organise and supervise play, build sandcastles, manage football teams and of course have plenty of fun!

"We provide each boy and girl with everything they need to have the perfect holiday break", says Jill Smith, President of the Sunshine Fund. "Everything from a bucket and spade to a raincoat is made available so that the children have a wonderful time. Yet it is the unique gift of the time our volunteers give, caring for and playing games with our guests that make the holidays so special. We come across it time and time again; men and women whose lasting childhood memory is of building sandcastles in Balbriggan”. Many of the boys and girls return much later in life to volunteer some of their time for a new generation of children.