Our history
More than a century of service — from a single club in Dublin to 66 clubs across the island.
Where it began
The Rotary Club of Dublin, chartered 22 February 1911 — the first Rotary club outside North America.
Rotary in Ireland is one of the oldest stories in the global Rotary movement.
On 22 February 1911, the Rotary Club of Dublin was chartered — the first Rotary club established outside North America. From that single club, Rotary grew steadily across the island, with new clubs forming in cities and market towns over the following decades.
By the late twentieth century, Rotary in Ireland had grown into a district covering the entire island — a structure that uniquely spans both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to this day.
One island, one district
District 1160 is one of the Rotary districts within Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland (Rotary GB&I). We are the only Rotary district that covers the entire island of Ireland, a cross-border structure that has fostered cooperation between clubs north and south for decades.
Today, District 1160 is home to 66 clubs stretching from Antrim to Youghal, from Castlebar to Carrickfergus.
Service through the years
Rotary clubs across Ireland have been at the centre of community service for over a hundred years. Notable areas of long-running impact include:
- Youth leadership — the Youth Leadership Development Competition (YLDC), run annually across the island, takes Irish young people to Dáil Éireann, Stormont and Strasbourg.
- Polio eradication — Irish clubs have raised many millions of euro for the global PolioPlus campaign, helping bring polio cases down by 99.9%.
- International service — Bikes for Africa has shipped over 5,000 refurbished bikes to schools in The Gambia, in partnership with the Irish Prison Service.
- Local initiative — club-led projects from the Tree of Remembrance in Wexford to road-safety education and community gardens in towns across the district.
Looking forward
In 2031, Rotary International’s annual convention will be hosted in Ireland for the first time — with up to 20,000 delegates expected at the RDS in Dublin from 7 to 11 June. It is, fittingly, the year of our 120th anniversary as a movement on this island.
The next chapter of Rotary in Ireland begins now. Find your local club or make a membership enquiry to be part of it.
Rotary Ireland today is built on what came before.
For the broader story of how Rotary developed in these islands, see the history of Rotary Great Britain & Ireland. For the giving arm, the Rotary Foundation has its own century-long story.