Chairs and Panels

Throughout 2009 a total of 23 workshops, involving over 100 presentations were held in various Dublin locations.  There are also nine public meetings throughout the country, starting with Dublin and the major cities.  

The workshops were aimed particularly at categories, units or groups who are interested in particular aspects of death, dying and bereavement and how we deal with end of life in Ireland.  The workshops were usually organised by category of the group attending. 

Organisations were invited to present a summary of their views and recommendations at the workshops. 

Each workshop had chairperson and sometimes a panel who would ask questions and steer the discussion following each of the presentations.  Each presentation lasted about 20 minutes. We always asked that the presentations be submitted some days before the date of the workshop, if possible, to aid reporting on the proceedings and assist the chair and panellist.    

The proceedings of the workshops, and the public meetings, will be reflected in the final report of the Forum on End of Life.

Individuals were also invited to send written submissions to the Forum.

So far workshop chairpersons and panellists have included the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, Arts Consultant, Doireann Ni Bhriain, Irish Times Religious Affairs Correspondent, Patsy McGarry, Former Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Law Reform, Tim Dalton, former director of Executive Education in DCU, Dr Tom Carey; Jim Power, Friends First chief economist; Eileen Pearson, Director Irish Hospice Foundation; Eamon Timmins, Head of Advocacy and Communications at Age Action Ireland, and John Lonergan, Governor of Mountjoy Prison, Dr Jane Wilde, director of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, Anna Nolan, RTE presenter, and Dr Ann Lavan, UCD School of Applied Social Science, and Fr Fergus O’Donoghue, Editor of  Studies, Tom O’Higgins, chairperson Older and Bolder Campaign, Bill Darlison, Senior Minister Unitarian Church; Andy Pollak, Director Centre for Cross Border Studies, Armagh;  Professor Mary McCarron, Director School of  Nursing and Midwifery, TCD, the children’s writer, Aubrey Flegg, Catríona Crowe, Head of Special Projects, National Archives of Ireland, and Lee Dunne, author and playwright.