The Board
Hugh Doyle- Chairperson
Hugh Doyle has served as School Chaplain since 2013, bringing over two decades of experience in pastoral care, youth work, education, and community development. A committed educator, Hugh combines his background in Psychology, Philosophy, and Pastoral Leadership with extensive teaching experience in Religious Education across both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Hugh holds an MA in Pastoral Leadership from All Hallows College and a PGCE in Religious Education from Queen’s University Belfast. Before entering school chaplaincy, he worked in a range of youth-focused and community roles, including project management, peace and reconciliation education, and trauma-awareness facilitation.
As Chaplain, Hugh is dedicated to fostering a welcoming, compassionate, and inclusive school environment. His work focuses on spiritual development, student wellbeing, and supporting young people through the challenges of school life. He also brings a strong interest in sport, community involvement, and youth mentoring, enriching the wider life of the school community.
Deirdre has worked in the not-for-profit sector since 2015 with multiple NGOs primarily in project implementation and management, youth advocacy, development education and philanthropy funding. She has held roles in project and funding management and on the operational side of NGOs reporting to the board on financial and governance matters. She is no stranger to collaborating with international partners on projects across Europe, Vietnam and Tanzania. Currently Deirdre works for a consulting company that works with government ministries and agencies overseas supporting them with their strategic plans. Deirdre has a degree in Business & Management and a Masters in Environmental Management. Originally from Mayo, she lives in Dublin but enjoys getting out of the city!.
Deirdre Gavin- Treasurer
Joe Murray
Joe Murray has been Director of Afri since 1994. In this capacity he is responsible for all elements of Afri´s work including Financial management, staff, corporate governance and project coordination. He has been a key organiser of the annual Doolough Famine Walk, Féile Bríde, Food Sovereignty Assemblies as well as various other innovative campaigns. Afri´s areas of concern include the impact of war and militarisation, climate change and forced migration. and promotes Food and Seed sovereignty as critical elements in responding to hunger and food insecurity.
He grew up on a small “self-sufficient” farm in Country Longford. He recently discovered his grandfather emigrated to New York Sheskin, Country Monaghan in 1905.
Sive lives in lovely Leitrim. She is a trainer in the field of global education with a background (way back) in theatre and (more recently) in human rights and development. During the 2000s she lived in Southern Africa (Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa) and completed studies in adult education in Cape Town before returning to Ireland in 2012. Since her return home she has been active in a range of spaces, all of which have proved so formative – teaching and research work in gender studies, anti-racism movements and global education. Over the past couple of years Sive has been revisiting theatre as an education tool and is developing a practice in all things decolonial. Guided by the work of others, she is interested in the interface of historic and ongoing injustices and unsustainability and cultivating, with others, new ways of knowing and relating
Sive Breshnan
Jamie O'Neill
Bridgette Brew is a seasoned professional with a track record of spearheading sustainable business
growth, optimising operational efficiency, and passionately advocating alignment of organisational objectives with ethical and environmental values. She excels in fostering robust relationships and steering dynamic teams toward delivering exceptional experiences. Specialised in HR optimisation and orchestrating impactful sales and marketing initiatives & is passionate about aligning profit with purpose, in cultivating a culture of excellence and collaboration. Throughout her career she has
demonstrated excellence is leveraging her energetic leadership style, deep empathy through
mentoring, strategic networking, community building, and innovative revenue generation and that consistently exceed expectations.
Bridgette Brew
Deirdre has been involved in global justice work for more than 10 years in education and awareness-raising roles. She completed a Masters in Economics for Transition, which explored alternatives to the current destructive economic system. She is interested in the role that community-based groups can play in creating local solutions for some of our biggest global problems.
Deirdre Kelly
Operations Team
Gareth Conlon- Director
Gareth has worked in development education for over 10 years; in different organisations including Comhlámh, Development Perspective and ECO-UNESCO. This led him to discover and learn about Permaculture which he has developed a strong passion for. He is very interested in how permaculture; development education and spirituality meet.
Grainne O'Neill
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Conan is a South Monaghan native. His early years loose on the land progressed into saving grass, herding cattle and spreading 18:6:12 as a teenager. His love of the outdoors and wilderness brought him to start a military career and progress to leading outdoor adventure activities. Later whilst studying for his degrees in Civil Engineering, where he focused on natural & environmental processes, he became aware of the widespread mismanagement and exploitation of the natural environment.
He has since worked tirelessly to raise the awareness of others about environmental issues while also upskilling himself to undertake ecosystem restoration.
Conan Connolly
