Ireland board

Joan Burton (Chair)

Joan is a former Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) of Ireland. She held that position in the coalition government from 2014 until 2016, during which time she was also leader of the Labour Party. Previously, she was minister for social protection, minister of state for overseas development and minister of state at the Department of Justice. A chartered accountant by profession, Joan worked in Tanzania in the 1980s as a lecturer at Dar es Salaam University. She also lectured at the Dublin Institute of Technology before entering politics.

Brian Dawson

Brian is the communications and public engagement manager for An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission. Previously, he was head of communications and public affairs at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). He has extensive experience in strategic communications, advocacy and public affairs. Brian previously worked for the European Parliament in the UK and Brussels, and as Wind Energy Ireland’s first head of communications. A passionate advocate of disability rights, he led on the development of IHREC’s award-winning public awareness campaign: “Because we’re all human. Means we’re all equal.”

Daragh Fahey

Daragh is a medical doctor who specialises in ophthalmology and public health. He founded his own eye charity in 2002 and previously worked as a board member for international eye charity Right to Sight. He is currently working as a public health consultant for UK councils.

Adrian Harpur

Adrian is an audit director at Deloitte with more than 14 years of experience in external financial statement audits. He has significant experience in managing audits of large not-for-profit organisations, including NGOs that operate globally. Adrian has strong expertise and knowledge in the areas of financial statement audit, internal controls and financial reporting including under Charities SORP and FRS 102.

Joyce Luma

Joyce was previously at the United Nations World Food Programme, where she has been the human resources director for Italy since 2019. Before that, she was the World Food Programme (WFP) country director and representative in Ethiopia from 2017 to 2018 and in South Sudan from 2014 to 2017. She also served as the deputy director of policy, programme and innovation division in Rome, Italy. Prior to that she managed a food security information and health information system on behalf of FAO in Zambia and was a research fellow at the University of Zambia. Joyce holds a doctorate in food and nutrition from Texas Tech University.

Dr Una Murray

Una is a lecturer in international development at the National University of Ireland Galway, where she is also director of the master’s degree programme in international development practice. She works extensively in evaluation and conducts research on topics including migration, climate change and gender. Una has more than 25 years of experience in development, having worked with UN agencies such as UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Organization for Migration. She has also worked with the bilateral aid programmes of Ireland, UK, Finland, Australia and the EU, and is a board member of Dóchas, the Irish association of non-governmental development organisations.

Barbara O’Reilly

Barbara started her career with Concern Worldwide in the early 1990s. In 1994 she was assigned to Rwanda and later worked for the International Organization for Migration on the Rwandan refugee return programme. She has a background in aid and development, insurance, project management and information technology, and previously worked for IBM, Diageo and TNT. Barbara is currently the global network director for RSA Insurance Group.

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