Steering Group
Bernard Barton
Bernard Barton was born in fifties Dublin, the eldest of six siblings.
Educated at Glenstal Abbey School, he read law and history at UCD before going on to read for the Bar at the Kings Inns, Dublin. He was called to the outer Bar in 1977 and the Inner Bar in 1997.
As a barrister, he specialised in Common Law civil liability litigation, principally in the areas of professional negligence, employers and occupiers liability, product liability and professional negligence. He acted as counsel for the Transfusion Positive group of Hepatitis C victims at the 1997 public enquiry into the Blood Transfusion Service Board and the contamination of blood and blood products in the State with Hepatitis C He subsequently represented numerous victims of infection at the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal.
After a successful career at the Bar, he was nominated by the Government in 2014 for appointment by the President of Ireland to be a judge of the High Court. In that role he was assigned to be the Garda Siochana Compensation claims list Judge and was appointed as the appeal judge for hearing appeals from the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal.
He was otherwise variously assigned to hear non-jury, judicial review, professional negligence and personal injury proceedings while in office and in 2017 was appointed to be the head of the Civil Juries Division of the High Court until his retirement in March 2021. While responsible for the list he presided over some of the most important and significant public interest Defamation cases in recent times.
Bernard is married to Anne-Marie (nee Rohan) and they have four children, two girls and two boys. Apart from an active involvement in country field sports, hill walking and sailing he is involved in fundraising for charity and is a committed member and executive office holder, as is his wife Anne-Mare, in the Irish branch of the Military and Hospitaler Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, an Irish registered charity.
Although not directly related to Robert Barton, who had no issue, whose sisters never married and whose two brothers were killed in action during the Great War, Bernard was fortunate to have met him through social contact as a child and teenager and who encouraged him to read law.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/a-judges-account-bernard-barton/id1479184171?i=1000637859671
Carol Fawsitt
Solicitor, non-executive Director of charities and non-for-profits, public service on Boards eg the State’s Equality Authority (now merged with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission), the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of the High Court. Founding member and first Chair of the Employment Law Association of Ireland, and currently Chair of The Ark’s Cultural Centre for Children in Temple Bar, and a member of the Charities Appeals Tribunal. Co- Founder of Silent Voices. Interested in broadening children’s access to arts and culture, history in all its many forms and most things Italian.
Carol is a granddaughter of Diarmaid Fawsitt.
Cathal Brugha
Dr Cathal MacSwiney Brugha,
Professor Emeritus of Decision Analytics, Smurfit and Quinn Schools of Business, University College Dublin
BSc, MSc and PhD from UCD; MBA from TCD.
President, Analytics Society of Ireland https://www.euro-online.org/web/ms/14/Ireland.
Fellow, Marketing Institute of Ireland https://mii.ie/.
Pubs: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/C-Brugha
The 2022 EURO Distinguished Service Award
The EDSA 2022 jury consisted of Lidija Zadnik-Stirn (chair), Michel Bierlaire, Daniele Vigo, Gudrun Kiesmüller, Zrinka Lukać
The presentation was made at the opening session of the EURO 2022 Conference in Espoo (Finland).
https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/255/distinguished-service-award-edsa
Credentials
- Co-author of “Doing Business in China: The Irish Experience” (2010), and “Doing Business With China, the Irish Advantage and Challenge” (2016).
- Visiting Professor, China Academy of Science in Beijing, and Xidian University, Xi’an
- Honorary Professor at the Techno India University in Kolkata, India.
- Visiting Professor, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Family
- Cathal Brugha (grandfather) was severely injured in the South Dublin Union in 1916, now St James Hospital, where he was Second in Command of the 4th Battalion of the Irish Volunteers.
- In 1917 led the organising of Irish Republican Army.
- First Dáil's first Speaker and President, January to April, 1919
- Minister of Defence during the War of Independence
- Opposed the Treaty. Tried to prevent division between both sides, and in the Army. Exorted Republicans not to enter Four Courts. Died in action defending Republicans in O’Connell Street.
- Terence MacSwiney (grandfather) following arrest used his status as Lord Mayor of Cork to globally shame British Rule and promote Independence. Died on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, Oct. 1920
- Ruairí Brugha (father) Member of the European Parliament, the Dáil, and the Seanad (twice).
Activities
- Careers in Dublin Institute of Technology, and in University College Dublin
- Governing Body of Dublin City University, Boards of Schools
- Academic fields: Decision Analytics, Nomology, Multiple Criteria Decision-Making
- Applied fields: Governance Analytics in Health-Care, Energy, Transport, Education
- Supported Catalonia’s movement for Self-Determination / Autonomy / Independence
- Worked on the Twinning of Dublin with Beijing, and other relationships with China
- Previously: National Executive of Fianna Fáil: Promoted Policy Development, Peace Process with North of Ireland, Youth Organisation, Party Journal.
Dermot Lynch
Dermot Lynch was born on 27th March 1930 the 5th son of Fionán Lynch and Bridget Mary Lynch nee Slattery. The family comprised Fionán Og, Tom, Máire, Brendan, Kevin, Dermot and Gearoid. He went to school in Saint Mary’s College, Rathmines and qualified as a doctor in 1953 from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
He worked in the Richmond Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital.
In 1956/57 he worked. in Paediatrics and general medical practice in Liverpool and married Oonagh Arbuthnot from Cork and Upminster, Essex on 2nd March 1957.
In 1958 he took up a post in General Medical Practice in Hanworth, Middlesex and continued as a Principal Practitioner until retirement in 1992. He participated in local health service management between 1970 and 1974. He was a member and Fellow of the British Medical Association and was secretary 1970 and Chairman 1976/77 of the South Middlesex Division and a member of the Representative Body 1972 to 1987. 1983 – Elected Fellow Royal College of General Practitioners. (Member 1968)
Member of The Irish College of General Practitioners.
He has a family of five grandchildren of Fionán and Bridget. They are Carolyn, Brian, Gerard, Nuala and Jackie.
He has spoken about Fionán in Cahirciveen in the centenary year, 2016, and later also to an interested group in Bradford.
He is now the only surviving member of Fionán and Bridget’s family.
Eda Sagarra
Eda Sagarra: b. Dublin 1933, d. of Kevin O’Shiel of Omagh, Co Tyrone and Cecil Smiddy of Cork city. Education: schooling: Loreto Foxrock, Farnborough Hill, Hants & Laval; third level: University College Dublin (History and German), MA (NUI), graduate study Freiburg i. B., Zurich and Vienna), Dr. phil. (Vienna), MA, Litt. D. (DU), MRIA, Corr. Member Austrian Academy of Sciences. Lecturer, University of Manchester (1958-75), Professor of German, Trinity College Dublin (1975-98). Secretary, Royal Irish Academy (1993-8), founding chair Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2000-6), Pro-Chancellor, Dublin University (2000-2008); member i.a. German government peer-review of the German Research Council and Max Planck Society (1997/9). Publications (1972-2021: modern literature and history of the German-speaking countries; biographies of Irish Free State public servants: 9 books, 6 co-edited vols + c.120 peer-reviewed articles in learned journals). M. Albert Sagarra of Barcelona, 1 d. Mireia.
Emer Nowlan
Emer Nowlan is a great granddaughter of Arthur Griffith, leader of the Irish delegation in the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations and President of Dáil Eireann from January 2022. Emer is the youngest of three daughters of Nora Nowlan (nee Gray), who was the daughter of Ita, one of Arthur and Maud Griffith's two children. Emer is an educationalist who has worked in various educational and management roles in different countries. She holds a Masters and a PhD from University College Dublin and her interests span all aspects of equality in education, with a particular focus on intercutural and anti-racist education, children's rights and participation, and democratic school cultures. She has lectured in the School of Education in UCD, DCU Institute of Education and Marino Institute of Education, where she worked with colleagues to establish the Migrant Teacher Project in 2017. Emer is currently CEO of Educate Together, the representative body for the growing national network of equality-based primary and second-level schools.
Erskine Childers
Erskine Childers is a namesake and great-grandson of Robert Erskine Childers; the writer and Irish nationalist. His grandfather was Erskine Hamilton Childers, the fourth President of Ireland.
He has spent many years researching and archiving the history of his forebears. In 2011 he was commissioned by Penguin Classics to be the features editor on a family edition of ‘ The Riddle Of The Sands ‘ . He is set to publish his next book on the lives of his great-grandparents, ‘ Erskine and Molly ‘.
Michael V O'Mahony
Mr. Michael V. O'Mahony: Solicitor (now retired); grand-nephew of Michael Collins whose eldest brother, Sean (Johnny) Collins, is my grandfather. My particular familial interest in the historical period 1913/23 is shared by all my siblings, in particular former politicians Mary Banotti and Nora Owen.
Richard Fawsitt
Thomas Richard Fawsitt. UK based consulting Programme Director https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-fawsitt-99052a, youngest son of Judge Seán Mac Diarmada Fawsitt, grandson of the first Consul General from Ireland to the United States, adviser to economic sub-commission at the 1921 Treaty negotiations, Assistant Secretary, Department of Industry and Commerce Jeremiah (Diarmaid) L. Fawsitt.
Richard's mother Patience Conner was the daughter of Henry Longfield Conner of Manch, District Court Judge, a many times great niece of Arthur O'Connor United Irishmen, cousin many times removed of Feargus O'Connor Chartist, Francisco Burdett O'Connor liberator, distant cousin of Douglas Hyde president and notable sportswoman in her own right.
Richard is married to Petra and has three grown up children, Henry, Ronan and Alice. Over the last ten years taken an increasing level of interest in his Irish Heritage and his family's place in it.
Richard is the Chairperson of the steering group.
Ronan Fawsitt
Dr. Ronan Fawsitt is a full-time GP in Kilkenny City. He has been involved in integrating care between local GPs and St Luke’s Hospital over many years. He was the founder Chair of the Carlow-Kilkenny Local Integrated Care Committee. Carlow-Kilkenny pioneered the first Acute Medical Assessment Unit (AMAU) in Ireland. He is a member of the Slaintecare Implementation Advisory Committee (SIAC). He served as GP/Primary Care advisor on the IEHG (Ireland East Hospital Group) Executive from 2015 to 2020. In 2016, the Carlow-Kilkenny LICC was awarded the Best GP-Hospital Collaboration nationally by GP Buddy.
Teresa Napoli
Teresa passed away in Rome on 31-Mar-2024
In her own words, always near Ireland and her lovely skies and her lovely people.
Rest in Peace
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My parents, Kathleen McKenna and Vittorio Napoli, married in Dublin. Their honeymoon landed them finally in Libia - then an Italian Colony - exactly in Derna on the Mediterranean seafront. There my brother Patrizio was born in 1933 and myself in 1934. I grew up for a couple of years at the sound of four different languages. I still wonder if that may account for the fact that I became a language teacher. Our home was a bungalow in a tropical garden with palm trees and banana groves. Our pals were two setters. Mother baptised the red Irish one “Rua” and the whitish one “Néal”.In 1936 we left that paradise for Rome. My first personal memories go back to it. After living in a bungalow a flat on the fifth floor with balconies becomes imprinted in one’s mind. After nine months we moved to Viterbo - the Papal city - north of Rome. In i939 we moved temporarily to Tirana ( Albania) to the music of another language. Albania was then a sort of Italian Dominion. I began my schooling there in the tiny Italian school. There I learned to read, write and draw. When war broke out in 1940 Mother, brother and I returned to Viterbo. Father remained there for the campaigns that enabled the Italians and their German Allies to occupy Greece. For years we saw very little of Father. I missed him greatly.. We lived dangerous and very difficult times under the bombings by the Anglo-Americans first and then by the Germans. Following the Italian armistice with the Anglo-Americans Father became a German prisoner and was taken to concentration camps. The family was reunited again only in September 1945
Life became lovely: walks in the country, visits to small historical towns, trips to Rome to its archaeological sites and wonderful churches. Then in 1947 our first visit to Ireland. Unforgettable. A completely new world for me and the first steps into English. I completed my lower studies in Viterbo then enrolled in the University of Naples. In 1956 we moved definitely to Rome.
English was becoming important in many fields, yet not many Italians spoke it. Through an Irish Nun of the Sisters of Nevers( Merrion Square, Dublin) Mother was asked to teach English in their school in Rome. Mother was then completely taken by the writing of articles for various Irish newspapers and declined the offer adding that perhaps her daughter might undertake the task. I accepted it. So Ireland decided my future. I taught English and French first in private schools and then in Italian State School of superior level. That allowed me to afford travels, theatre, concerts, skiing which I thoroughly enjoyed on the beautiful Italian mountains. When I met my future husband - an Officer in the Italian Army - he had never skied. He decided to have a try and was fascinated by it. We went happily downslope together., but it did not last long. Unfortunately he had just retired when in 1986… R.I.P.
After a couple of years Mother too died.
Four years more and also Father was called away.
I was left to our daughter, to my brother, my relatives, my reading, teaching, painting, to my cat, to my travels, to my Ireland.
Tim Lynch
Professor Tim Lynch MB, FRCPI, FRCP is a Consultant Neurologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Clinical Director of the Dublin Neurological Institute, Chief Academic Officer Ireland East Hospital Group, Professor of Neurology and Vice Principal Health Affairs UCD. Prof. Lynch is a medical graduate from Royal College of Surgeons Ireland from 1984 and subsequently was awarded a BSc Pharmacology UCD. He trained at the Richmond Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin before moving to Columbia University, New York. He completed a residency in neurology followed by a Fellowship in Movement Disorders with Prof Stanley Fahn and a Fellowship in Neurogenetics. in 1995 he was appointed Assisitant Professor of Neurology, Columbia University. Prof Lynch returned to Ireland in 1998 to take up a consultant neurology post at the Mater and Beaumont Hospitals. In 2008 Prof. Tim Lynch opened the Dublin Neurologuical Institiute (www.neurologicalinstitute.ie) as a centre of excellence in academic neurological care. He is recognised for his research including >300 high-quality peer-reviewed publications studying movement disorders, movement control, neurodegenerative diseases, dementia, stroke, neurological infections, multiple sclerosis and the genetics of neurology. He has been the mentor of numerous trainees, fellows and students and has tried to assist the careers of the next generation of Neurologists in Ireland.
STEERING GROUP
Áine Broy
Pending a full biography
Áine Broy is the daughter of Eamon "Ned" Broy, Security Advisor to the Anglo-Irish Treaty Delegation 1921.
This picture of Áine Broy (on the right) with her friend Mary Basquel-Fahy on the 2nd of October 2021
Brigid Flanagan
Brigid Flanagan (nee Wall), retired Secondary School Teacher.
I'm over 49 years married to Pat Flanagan. We have two offspring, Pamela in London and Kevin in Australia with three children.
We have lived in Ballinteer for 34 years. We spent 15 years in Scotland from 1994 to 2009. We have had many interests including travelling, hill walking, orienteering, golf and cycling.
I am a niece of the late Kathleen Napoli McKenna and first cousin of Teresa. I was very happy to get the opportunity to assist Teresa in publishing her Mother's memoirs: A Dail Girl's, Revolutionary Recollections.
In this photo Brigid Flanagan is on the left and Teresa Napoli is on the right.
Conor Mulvagh
Associate Professor at the School of History University College Dublin (UCD) with special responsibility for the decade of centenaries and is an honorary descendant as married to a great granddaughter of J.L Fawsitt.
Please refer to:
https://people.ucd.ie/conor.mulvagh
Diarmaid Fawsitt
Diarmaid(Willie) Fawsitt, born in Cork, eldest son of Judge Seán Mac Diarmada Fawsitt and Patience Conner. Educated at Rockwell College Co Tipperary. Studied Law at UCC, 1967-1970. Worked in the United States of America from 1970 to 1972. Back in Ireland he worked in International Transport in his own business from 1972-1990. Returned to studying Law at the Kings Inns in Dublin . Called to the Bar in October 1996, he developed a general practice as a barrister, specializing in Labour Law. Married Anne Guy in 1975 they have three children and live in Shankill Co. Dublin.
Christened Diarmaid after his Grandfather. Diarmaid Fawsitt (who wished Willie to be named after him), this coupled with the fact that his personal papers were left to Judge Seán Mac D, led to many a lively family discussion on his legacy and achievement in many areas. These include being part and parcel of the foundation of the IDA (as we know it today); a founder member of Ring College in Co Waterford; involvement with the Gaelic League (from its inception); a patron of the various Celtic Societies of his time. Curiously his was the signature on the first statutory instrument, issued by the State, S.I.1-22.
https://notices.irishtimes.com/death/fawsitt-diarmaid-willie/59185441?s_source=itir_titi
RIP
Fiona Murray
Fiona Murray Fiona Murray is a granddaughter of Delegation member Diarmaid Fawsitt. She has lived most of her life in Cork city, studying French and English for her B.A. degree in University College Cork. She had always wanted to teach, and was employed as a Secondary Teacher for most of her earlier career, apart from a few years in the 1990s when she took a break to work in Corporate Affairs for a London multi-national. In 2004, she moved to the State Examinations Commission, retiring as a Senior Examinations and Assessment Manager in 2017.
Although her MA degree (UCC 1981) was in Old and Middle English, she discovered that she particularly enjoyed the historical aspect of her research, which necessitated a summer in Oxford delving into Chaucerian manuscripts. On retirement, she was able to pursue this interest further, enjoying life as a post-graduate student in Jesus College Oxford, where she was awarded an MSt in Historical Studies in 2020. Her preference is for the Late Medieval Period, so her current need to focus on early 20th century Irish history is something new for her.
Fiona’s hobbies are choral singing and golf, and she also loves travelling and researching family history. She is currently making her first attempt at writing a young adult novel, and hopes to move into writing historical fiction for teens in future years.
Julitta Clancy
Julitta Clancy is a grand-daughter of Diarmaid Fawsitt (1884-1967), economic adviser to Robert Barton in the Treaty negotiations of 1921. An archivist by profession, she sorted and listed his extensive collection of papers preserved for many years by the Fawsitt family at Laurelmount, Co. Cork, before their presentation to Cork City and County Archives in 2019.
Julitta was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, the 4th child of Sheila Fawsitt (1912-1976) and John Stewart (1920-1982), army officer. The family moved to north Co Dublin in the 1950s and later to Glenasmole in the Dublin mountains. Graduating in Archaeology and Hebrew from UCD and later in Archival Studies, she taught in a secondary school for Israeli-Arabs in Haifa, before returning to work in Irish University Press indexing British Parliamentary Papers. She married John Clancy, architect, in 1974, and the couple moved to Co Meath, raising seven children. Archival and indexing projects have included the King's Inns Archives, legal texts, journals, court reports, historical texts and archaeological reports, as well as official reports including the Murphy and Cloyne Commissions and the Mother and Baby Homes Commission. She has also indexed several volumes of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (RIA and Department of Foreign Affairs) and is the editor of 4 volumes of the Irish Digest of Superior Court Judgments (Law Reporting Council).
Through the Meath Peace Group (co-founded by Julitta in 1993) and the Louth-based cross-border group the Guild of Uriel (which she has co-chaired since 1995), Julitta, John and colleagues have been involved in the work of peacebuilding and reconciliation over many years, organising numerous public talks and seminars, and facilitating cross-border dialogue sessions and secondary school programmes in Meath and Louth. In this, they worked closely with numerous community and victims groups in Northern Ireland, and organised youth exchanges and study visits to sites of historical interest. In February 2004, in recognition of the work done in building understanding between communities in Northern Ireland, Julitta was presented with an honorary MBE by Princess Anne which she accepted on behalf of the Meath Peace Group.
Julitta and John are also long-standing members of the Council of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, and both have served as Presidents of the Society.
Kevin Finnan
The book team were joined by Kevin Finnan. Kevin, an Accountant by profession, continues to pursue, in his spare time, his passion for history.
He is currently researching a thesis on the role of doctors during the Revolutionary period in DCU. With access to archives limited due to the pandemic,
Kevin used his knowledge of the extensive on-line records including, census, military records, and newspapers to help identify many of the lessor know participants in the negotiations.
Maria Therese Murphy
Anne Murphy née Lyons niece of Alice and Ellie Lyons and her daughter Maria Murphy (grandniece) at State Commemoration of the Handover of Dublin Castle on 16 January 2022.
Alice and Ellie Lyons were Clerical Assistants / Stenographers to the Anglo-Irish Treaty Delegation 1921.
Maria Murph who after a lifelong interest in history especially the Irish Revolutionary period was inspired a return to college as a mature student to complete an MA in History, culminating in After the Glory: The Ryan’s of Tomcoole in Civil War and Post-Revolutionary Ireland. Keen family historian. Unaware of grand aunts Ellie and Alice’s work for the revolutionary movement until Tim Pat Coogan’s Michael Collins: a biography in 1990.
Orlando Taylor
Microsoft Technology sales specialist with a keen interest in the history of these islands and the impact on modern society.
Where possible leveraging the network and access to leading edge technology to unlock opportunities for historical moments to be celebrated collaboratively.
Siobhán Nowlan
Siobhán Nowlan is a great granddaughter of Arthur Griffith, leader of the Irish delegation in the Anglo-Irish treaty negotiations, and President of Dáil Eireann from January 2022. Siobhán is the second of three daughters of Nora Nowlan (nee Gray), who was the daughter of Ita, one of Arthur and Maud Griffith's two children.
Siobhán lives in Surrey, England, where she works as a Specialist Community Nurse supporting families who have children or young people with additional needs. Her professional interest in the area stretches back to the 1980s, when she first worked as a Teaching Assistant with St Michaels House in Dublin. After short stints working in New York and Seattle, USA, Siobhán moved to Epsom, Surrey, where she qualified as a nurse specialising in learning disability, and she has had a varied career in the UK since. Roles have included managing a residential and palliative care setting for children and young people with complex health needs, and community work with teenage parents. Siobhán has a strong interest in young people’s reproductive rights, and she helped to set up a groundbreaking confidential telephone service for young people as a volunteer with the Irish Family Planning Association shortly after leaving school in Dublin.
While working in the NHS Teenage Pregnancy team she also qualified as Fertility and Fertility Control Nurse, a qualification that is particularly useful in providing support for vulnerable young people,encouraging inclusion and positive informative decisions.
Wally Young
The group wish to acknowledge the voluntary assistance of Wally Young, Young Communications, Dublin with this project.