THE CEIFIN CENTRE

Tracking the Tiger ~ A Decade of Change

Speakers at the Tenth Anniversary Conference 2007

Rachael English, CHAIR

Rachael English has worked as a reporter and presenter on most of RTE radio's leading current affairs programmes including Morning Ireland and the News at One. For six years she presented the evening drivetime programme, Five Seven Live. She received a PPI award (Ireland's national radio awards)for the programme's coverage of the September the eleventh attacks. Over the past decade she has covered a huge range of national and international stories for RTE, from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement to the 2004 Athens Olympics. Earlier this year, she made a television documentary in Pakistan on life after the devastating 2005 earthquake. In advance of this year's General Election, Rachael spent six months travelling to all of the 43 Dail constituencies for the RTE Radio series, The Constituency. Her journey formed part of the RTE/O'Brien Press publication, The Election Book. She was also the co-presenter of RTE radio's marathon election results programme. A Communications graduate of Dublin City University, Rachael began her career at Clare FM radio in Ennis. She is from Shannon.

Fr. Harry Bohan

Fr. Harry, Chairman of The Céifin Centre for Values-led Change, qualified as a sociologist in the University of Wales, and is currently Director of Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Killaloe, and Parish priest in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare. In 1998 he founded The Céifin Centre for Values-led Change to reflect, debate and direct values-led change in Irish society. He has written extensively on Christianity, spirituality, economic development and on understanding change. His publications include Ireland Green, Roots in a Changing Society and Community and the Soul of Ireland. He is also editor and contributor to all nine books of papers from previous Céifin Conferences. Fr. Harry is recognised as one of the leading social commentators in Ireland today. He has broadcast widely on national radio and television and was appointed to the Task Force on Active Citizenship by An Taoiseach in 2006. He is also well known for his involvement in sport, and Clare Hurling in particular.

Paul Tansey

Paul Tansey, MA, MBA, is managing director of the economics and financial consultancy Tansey Webster Stewart & Company and a regular contributor to The Irish Times on economics. Over the past twenty years, he has undertaken consultancy assignments at home and abroad for both the private and public sectors. Tansey has a particular interest in the labour market and, in conjunction with Microsoft, published a major study on productivity trends in Ireland in 2005. Until recently, he was an independent member of the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF). He is currently a member of the Tourism Strategy Implementation Group and a director of Tote Ireland. He has written two books - Making the Irish Labour Market Work (1991) and Ireland At Work (1998).

John Waters

John Waters was born in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, in 1955. Despite the best efforts of a number of local schools, he remained uneducated in any acceptable sense. He did a range of jobs after leaving school, including railway clerk, showband roadie, pirate radio manager, petrol pump attendant and mailcar driver. He began part-time work as a a journalist in 1981, with Hot Press, Ireland's leading rock 'n' roll magazine and went full-time in 1984, when he moved to Dublin. As a journalist, magazine editor and columnist, he has specialised in raising unpopular issues of public importance, including the repression of Famine memories and the denial of rights to fathers. His books include, Jiving at the Crossroads (1991); Race of Angels (1994); Every Day Like Sunday? (1995); An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Ireland (1997) and The Politburo Has Decided That You Are Unwell (2004). He has also written plays for radio and the stage, including Long Black Coat (1994), Holy Secrets (1996), Easter Dues (1997), and Adverse Possession (1998). He was co-writer with Tommy Moran of Ireland's entry in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. His next book, Lapsed Agnostic, will be published by Continuum in the autumn of 2007.

Maurice Neligan

Maurice Neligan, Cardiac Surgeon, has wide experience of all aspects of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery. He was educated in Blackrock College Dublin and UCD, and began his medical career as an intern in the Mater Misercordiae Hospital in Dublin in 1962. He went on to work in the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Birmingham for a number of years, before returning to the Mater Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, where he was based from the early 1970's to 2002. From 1980-1999 he held the position of Director of the Irish National Cardiac Surgical Unit, Mater Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin He is a member of numerous national and international medical and cardiac societies, including the International Cardiovascular Association and the International Society for Heart Transplantation. He is also a founding member of the Blackrock Clinic, Dublin. Maurice is author of multiple scientific papers, and he also regularly contributes to The Irish Times. He is married with seven children and lives in Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

Donal Murray

Donal Murray is Bishop of Limerick. He was educated in Blackrock College, Holy Cross College Clonliffe, UCD, St Patrick's College Maynooth and the University of St Thomas in Rome. After ordination as a priest in 1966, he taught in the Mater Dei Institute, in Clonliffe and in UCD. In 1982 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop in Dublin and in 1996 he was installed as Bishop of Limerick. His publications include Jesus is Lord (1974), The Inner Truth (1980), Secularism and the New Europe (1990) and The Soul of Europe (2002). He has been particularly interested in the relationship between faith and culture and is a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. He is also interested in questions of Bio-Ethics and is a member of the Joint Bishops' Committee on Bio-Ethics established by the Episcopal Conferences of Ireland, England & Wales, and Scotland.

Mary Kealy

Mary Kealy, a native of Dublin, qualified as an Occupational Therapist in St. Joseph's College, Dún Laoighre in 1976. She went to work with the Brothers of Charity Services in Clarinbridge, Co. Galway for 6 years and then went on to establish community-based services for people with an Intellectual Disability throughout Co. Galway for the same organisation. In 1999 Mary was appointed Chief Executive for the Brothers of Charity Services in Co. Clare. She is currently involved in leading the services through a radical transformation from being segregated, congregated, specialized services for people with disabilities to supporting each individual as a unique human being, to pursue their dreams and ambitions and to have a valued life in their own community. She is a past Chairperson of Special Olympics Ireland. Mary is married with two children and lives in Gort, Co. Galway.

Ciana Campbell

Originally from Swinford, Co. Mayo, Ciana graduated from UCG in 1979 with a B.A. degree in Psychology. She began her broadcasting career in RTE in 1980 when she first broadcast on Radio 2. For the following eighteen years Ciana presented and reported on both radio and television. She worked in many departments including Features, Young People's and Current Affairs. Her best known programmes included Check Up, a pioneering health programme, Access Community Television and, more recently, daytime television shows such as PM LIVE. Ciana and her family moved to Ennis, Co. Clare in 1998. In 2000 she was involved in The Scattering, an award winning photographic book on the lives of Clare emigrants. She provides media and presentation services for a variety of organisations. In 2006 she was awarded a H. Dip. in Health Promotion by NUIG and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Health Promotion. Ciana divides her time between media consultancy and training, family commitments, study and volunteering in her local community. Ciana is also on the organising committee for The Ennis Book Club Festival. She is married with two daughters.

Dearbhail McDonald

Dearbhail McDonald, from Newry, County Down, is the Legal Affairs Correspondent for The Irish Independent. McDonald, a former news correspondent with The Sunday Times Newspaper, has won several Justice Media Awards for her legal reporting and is a former Young Irish Medical Journalist of the Year. Dearbhail, 30, who began her journalism career in New York, holds an LL.B (Law) from Trinity College Dublin and a Master of Arts in Journalism from Dublin City University. Dearbhail has recently been appointed a voluntary board member of MediaForum, an organisation that provides, supports and facilitates media literacy education in Ireland. A classically trained violinist, Dearbhail is a member of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and the Serafina String Quartet.

Cathal Casey

Cathal Casey (b. Sept 1967) worked for over 10 years as a University Lecturer in UCC. He has been involved with Business Training & Consultancy for several years, and now runs his own training organisation. He likes to develop innovative and fun filled training courses that seek out the spirit in individuals and groups. He employs a wide range of methods and is currently interested in using theatrical techniques to move people forward on more focused and spirited paths. He also spends some of his time in Berlin, where he partners with a German Training Organisation. Cathal is a keen hurler, having won many honours with his native Cork. He has extensive experience in team management and coaching, and in 2007 was part of the Cork Senior Hurling Management Team.

Sean Love

Sean Love has been Executive Director of Amnesty International (Ireland) since 2001. During this time, Amnesty International has vastly expanded its mission to incorporate campaigning on all civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights. Amnesty Ireland has played a leadership role within the international movement in delivering on this expansion, and in the process significantly increased its programmes, resources, support base, profile and impact. Seán has chaired the organisation's international campaigns & research policy committee, and he is also a director of Amnesty Education Ltd. and Art for Amnesty Ltd. Seán holds a BA in Economics & History, and a Masters in Information Science. He is also chairperson of the Educate Together National School in Navan, Co.Meath.

Kathleen O’Toole

Kathleen M. O'Toole has held the position of Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate since 1st July 2006. In 1998 Ms. O'Toole was selected to serve on the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (The Patten Commission), which developed a new framework for policing, and security in the North. Ms O'Toole has spent more than twenty-five years in the public safety arena, having risen through the ranks of the Boston, Metropolitan, and State Police organisations. She has held the positions of Lieutenant Colonel of Massachusetts State Police and Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety, and in February 2004 she went on to take up the position of Boston Police Commissioner. During her career, Ms. O'Toole has also held senior positions at Digital Equipment, Boston College and GPC/O'Neill and Associates. She was also President and founder of O'Toole Associates LLC, an international consulting firm. Kathleen O'Toole is a graduate of Boston College and the New England School of Law. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1982. She is married with one daughter.

Tom Collins

Professor Tom Collins is Head of the Education Department at National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Prior to this he was Director, Dundalk Institute of Technology. He was Government advisor on both the Green Paper (1998) and White Paper (2000) on Adult Education at which time he was Director of the Centre for Adult and Community Education at NUI Maynooth. He is a member of the board of a number of statutory bodies and has recently been appointed chair of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Nuala O’Loan

Mrs Nuala O'Loan is the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, responsible for the investigation of all complaints against the police. (Her term as Police Ombudsman finishes on 5 November 2007). Mrs O'Loan is a qualified solicitor and held the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at the University of Ulster. She has variously held the positions of, amongst others, a Special Commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality's Formal Investigation into Racism in Policing in England and Wales, Vice-Chair of the Police Authority's Community Relations Committee; a Member of the Northern Health and Social Services Board; and a Legal Expert Member of the European Commission's Consumers Consultative Council. For seven years, Mrs O'Loan was also a custody visitor to police stations. She has produced more than 50 articles and other publications on law, policing, faith and other issues. In the course of her work she has spoken widely at conferences, and in an advisory capacity to many national and international government agencies responsible for policing and police accountability.