Inspire a Northern Ireland colleague (7)
I believe the answer is:
animate
'inspire' is the definition.
(I know that inspire can be written as animate)
'a northern ireland colleague' is the wordplay.
'northern ireland' becomes 'NI' (abbreviation).
'colleague' becomes 'mate' (mate can mean a colleague or friend).
'a'+'ni'+'mate'='ANIMATE'
(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Give life or movement to, as with a cartoon" , "Invigorate; alive" , "Eat main (anag.)" , "Provide inspiration" , "Living" .)