A Pole who describes himself as a “banner man” having lived in Co Clare for the past 10 years has been named as the Polish young person of the year at the Outstanding Pole awards.

In a statement, the Irish Polish Association said “proud Clare man” Marcin Piotrowski (34) received the award for “building bridges” between Polish and Irish communities.

Mr Piotrowski was described as a “very active member” of the Clare community. “He thinks it’s important to work for your local community and to build strong connections between members of the community,” said the association.

“Marcin would like to prove that you don’t have to move to a big city to create something great. He says that new communities are an integral part of Clare society now and it’s very important for members of these communities to take part in Irish society.”

Other categories

In the four other categories, Maja Ulej of MMCookies won the business award; Justyna Cwojdzinska won the culture award for work with the Polish Art Festival; Dr Bozena Cierlik of University College Cork won the science award; and the personality award went to Agnieszka Wieczorkowska of the Polish Scouts.

Speaking to The Irish Times after his win, Mr Piotrowski, who has two jobs, said he came to Ireland 12 years ago. “It is like the American Dream except, for me, it is the Irish Dream,” he said.

“We are trying to build bridges. Polish communities are usually very close. In the bigger cities, they are not integrating so well, but in the smaller communities like Ennis it is much easier because we all know each other – our neighbours and the local leaders.”

He said Britain’s impending exit from the European Union had made life difficult for Poles in the UK. “With Brexit, the Poles are having trouble with the English people at the moment,” he said. “They are not as welcome as they are here in Ireland.

“There are so many Polish here. We want to give an example to Estonians, Slovaks and Russians to help them integrate. Ireland is my home now and I’m a banner man. We’re building a network with other parts of the country to help integration.”