Tipperary man is new chair of Irish Cultural Centre in London

Carrick-on-Suir man Peter Power-Hynes is the new chair of the Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in  Hammersmith, London.

He succeeds Jim O'Hara, who has announced his retirement after thirteen years in the role.

Founded in 1995, the Centre faced turbulent times when in 2012, the Conservative-led Hammersmith and Fulham Council announced it wanted to sell the site. Faced with the demise of this major hub of cultural and other activities for the Irish community in Britain, O’Hara and his Board launched a major fundraising campaign to raise £3.5m to buy the freehold of the site and construct a new building. With help from the Irish Government and an innovative partnership with Shepherd’s Bush Housing Group, the new Irish Cultural Centre finally opened its doors in October 2017. 

Since then, the Centre has expanded its cultural programme across music, cinema, theatre, art, comedy and literature as well as providing music, Irish language classes and lectures on a range of cultural and historical themes. Many of Ireland’s leading musicians have played in the new Centre including Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Altan and Sean Keane with major names such as Mary Brennan (Clannad) and Lúnasa set to perform during the Centre’s forthcoming Blasta! music festival in November.  

Peter Power-Hynes has been finance director of Irish Cultural Centre  since 2017.  He is also finance director of Irish Heritage, honorary treasurer of the Irish Literary Society and assistant curator of the London Irish Rifles Museum. 

He was born in Dublin, raised in Carrick-on-Suir, and lived in Rathloose, Powerstown, Clonmel from 1978-88.

 Educated in both Carrick-on-Suir and Dublin, he subsequently trained as an accountant with Ernst and Young in Ireland and has operated his own private practice in London since 1990. With a deep interest in Irish arts and culture, Irish sport and Irish military history, he completed a Post Graduate MA in Irish Studies at St. Mary’s University in 2014. 

He has lectured in Ireland and the UK on Irish military and genealogical topics. He is a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, The Royal Society of Arts and The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

Mr Power-Hynes said he is delighted  to be taking on the role of chair at a time when the Irish Cultural Centre is moving into a new phase  and  settled into its  beautiful new home. 

He said the  board is deeply indebted to Jim O'Hara for the huge personal effort he put into fundraising and overseeing the construction of our new building.

“I am honoured to be stepping into his shoes and hope I will be able to emulate his strong leadership of the Irish Cultural Centre over the last 13 years as we continue to move forward in providing the most extensive and diverse programme of Irish cultural events outside the Republic of Ireland."