Norma Foley, TD, Minister for Education

Norma Foley TD was appointed Minister for Education in June 2020. The Department has policy responsibility for early years, primary and post-primary education in Ireland. Minister Foley has led the Department of Education during the pandemic, with a strong focus on ensuring ongoing dialogue and engagement with all education stakeholders. Following closure due to COVID-19 in March 2020, she has overseen the re-opening of schools in Autumn 2020, putting in place a multi-million euro package of support measures for school communities. She has overseen the successful development and delivery of alternative assessment mechanisms to facilitate students leaving post-primary schools to progress to further and higher education and the world of work when traditional examinations were not possible due to COVID-19. Minister Foley has a passionate interest in excellence and equity in education, most notably when she provided for the inclusion of the student voice as a partner in education. Amongst the key initiatives progressed during her first two and a half years in office Minister Foley has announced the biggest ever expansion of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools (DEIS) programme ensuring that one out of every four of our students can now avail of DEIS supports. Minister Foley has also undertaken the first comprehensive reform of the Leaving Certificate Programme since the foundation of the State and has recently unveiled Cineáltas, the Department’s new Action Plan on Bullying.Prior to her election to Dáil Eireann and appointment as Minister, Ms Foley worked as a post-primary teacher in her home town of Tralee.  A graduate of University College Cork, she served as a member of Kerry County Council for many years and has served as Mayor of County Kerry and three terms as Mayor of Tralee.

Denyse Campbell, President, Irish Hotels Federation

Denyse Campbell is the 39th President of the Irish Hotels Federation. A native of Strokestown, Co Roscommon, Ms Campbell is General Manager of the Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport. After graduating from the College of Catering in Cathal Brugha Street, she began her career as a hotelier with the Hilton Group in the United States. Following a period with Jurys in the UK, she returned to Ireland where she worked for several independent hotels and groups. In 2015, she joined Dalata Hotel Group, spending several years at the Clayton Ballsbridge before assuming her current role at the Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport in 2018. Ms Campbell has been an active member of the IHF since 2006 and has served as Secretary and Chair of the Dublin branch, National Vice President on two separate occasions and as a member of the National Council and Management Committee.  As Chair of the IHF’s Marketing Group she oversaw the launch of the immensely successful ‘Go Anywhere Gift Card’, the official gift card of the Irish Hotels Federation

Ivan Yates, Broadcaster and Columnist

Ivan Yates is a broadcaster, columnist, businessman and former politician, holding the position of Fine Gael Dáil deputy for more than twenty years. A native of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, he became the youngest member of the 22nd Dáil at twenty-one. He was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry in 1994. He founded Celtic Bookmakers, a chain of betting shops, which became one of the largest independent family chains in the country. Ivan presented The Hard Shoulder, Newstalk’s drive time show and Tonight TV. Ivan set up MediaMasterclass.ie in 2021 and is now a top Communications Coach.

Clare McAllister, Business Sales & Service Manager, Electric Ireland

Clare is responsible for business segments across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, from Large Energy Users to Small and Medium Enterprises. Clare has played an integral role in the success of Electric Ireland since having joined as a Customer Relationship Manager in 2004 – a position which has helped shape and inform her customer centred approach to client management. Her knowledge and understanding of the wider economic environment as previous Chair and Honorary Secretary of the Energy Institute Northern Ireland branch, a member of the Board of the Centre of Advanced Sustainable Energy and of ESB Energy’s Board of Directors, positions Clare perfectly to develop Electric Ireland’s growing market share in Ireland.  

Dervla O’Neill, Learning and Development Network Manager, IHF Skillnet 

Dervla is the Learning and Development Manager with the IHF and operates the Irish Hotels Federation Skillnet which launched in March 2021. She has over 30 years’ experience in a variety of senior roles in both the tourism and education sectors. Tourism projects include the launch of EPIC the Irish Emigration Museum and product development with CIE Tours International. Dervla had previous success launching and developing a training Skillnet for the travel industry. Dervla is a committed lifelong learner and is currently studying a postgraduate in Learning and Development with UCC. The Irish Hotels Federation Skillnet delivers a range of bespoke training programmes and workshops that are tailored to the unique needs of hotels and guesthouses. To date over 450 hotels and 3,000 team members have taken part  in the wide range of short courses and accredited programmes. 

Dr Tara Shine, CEO, Change by Degrees

Dr Shine is co-Founder and CEO of the award-winning sustainability business, Change by Degrees, she has advised world leaders, governments and civil society organisations on climate change, environmental policy and development assistance. Tara was formerly a climate negotiator at the UN and Special Advisor to the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice and Adviser to the Elders.  Tara is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and co-facilitator of a science-policy dialogue under the UN Climate Convention. She is a member of faculty of the Global Leadership Programme for Women in Science, Homeward Bound.  Tara’s book ‘How To Save Your Planet One Object At A Time’ is a guide to sustainable living told through everyday objects.  Tara is a regular contributor to TV and radio and has presented TV programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and RTE. 

Tom Randles, General Manager & Director of Randles Hotels

Tom Randles is Director of Randles Hotels, Killarney which operates the Dromhall Hotel & Randles Hotel. It is a 3rd generation family business established in 1921. Having Graduated from Shannon College of Hotel Management his career developed through roles in France, Switzerland, Scotland & The United States. More recently he graduated with a Masters in Hotel & Business Administration from NUI Galway and Shannon College of Hotel management. Actively involved in Commercial organisations he has been President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism & Commerce and is a Past Vice President of the Irish Hotels Federation. Previously he was a member of the Tourism Leadership Group which oversees the National Tourism Strategy. He has also sat on the IHF classification steering group and IHF Sustainability Committee. He is a board member Kerry Airport plc and Original Irish Hotels. Now living in Killarney, he is married to Aileen and has 2 sons.

Conal O’Neill, Group General Manager – Regional Ireland & Partners, Dalata Hotel Group plc

A hospitality professional for 30+ years, Conal has spent most of this time managing multi-site hotel operations across 3, 4 and 5-star grades and through a wide variety of economic conditions in Ireland and the UK. He holds a BA in Hotel Management from Galway RTC and started his post graduate career with Jurys Hotel Group plc in 1991. He spent 15 years with the company and was heavily involved in the expansion of the Jurys Inn brand culminating in his role as Group General Manager covering the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Returning to Ireland in 2007, Conal joined Ion Equity, a Dublin based private equity firm, and worked on a variety of hotel related investment projects before joining Dalata Hotel Group plc in 2014. In his role at Dalata, Conal heads up operations for 16 hotels across Ireland under the Clayton, Maldron and Partner brands. He also chairs the “Environment Steering Group” at Dalata which in turn reports into the company board level ESG Committee. The “Environment Steering Group” acts as an umbrella group for all activities across the company aimed at reducing impact on the environment. Conal is a fellow of the Irish Hospitality Institute, a Limerick native and lives in Kilkenny.

Catherine Toolan, Managing Director, Diageo Irish Brand Homes

Catherine Toolan is the managing director of Diageo Irish Brand Homes, a portfolio of world-renowned visitor experiences, consisting of The Guinness Storehouse, the Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Roe & Co Distillery and Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny. The Guinness Storehouse welcomes up to 1.5 million visitors annually and is a key asset in Dublin city’s tourism offering. In October 2022, it won European Beer Tour Visitor Attraction of the Year at the World Travel Awards in Mallorca.

Since taking the helm at The Guinness Storehouse in 2020, Catherine has steered the team to reposition the experience to attract both domestic and international visitors through a programme of culture, community, food and arts. Some notable collaborations include the award-winning Creatives Against Covid Art Exhibition, Other Voices and a collaboration with world-renowned Dublin street artist, Aches. Business and leisure tourism are critical economic drivers for Dublin and Ireland and during the Covid-19 pandemic Catherine played a key role in the Dublin Destination Recovery Taskforce to build back a strong and sustainable tourism proposition for the city. 

Prior to joining Diageo, Catherine had a very successful career in brand experiences, events, business tourism, live music, food and hospitality, spanning three continents and including eight years in China. Career highlights include overseeing the build, design, food, retail and hospitality for elite athletes at the Summer Olympics and Asian Games in Beijing, Guangzhou, London and Rio De Janeiro, leading some of the largest food and hospitality projects in the world. Catherine is from Sligo on the beautiful Wild Atlantic Way and is a graduate of Galway Institute of Technology, University College Dublin and Tsinghua University, Beijing.  

Sean O'Driscoll, CEO, iNua Hospitality PLC & Director of Hotels, Cliste Hospitality 

Sean is Chief Executive Officer of iNua Hospitality PLC. iNua Hospitality owns 8 hotels in Ireland including Radisson hotels in Cork, Limerick, Sligo & Athlone, Muckross Park resort in Killarney, The Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel, The Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan and The Tullamore Court Hotel. Sean is also Director of Hotels at Cliste Hospitality. Cliste Hospitality operate 11 hotels under management with over 1200 rooms and employ 1400 people. Cliste Hospitality also provide hotel consultancy to independent hotel owners.  

Sean has worked in hospitality since he was aged 16. He became General Manager of The Brehon Hotel in Killarney at aged 25,  a position he held for 7 years, before becoming General Manager of the 5 star Muckross Park Hotel in 2011. Sean was promoted to Chief Operating Officer at iNua Hospitality in 2016 and took over as Chief Executive Officer of the group in February 2020. He is a former Vice President of the Irish Hotels Federation. 

Bernadette Randles, Managing Director, Dromhall Hotel

Bernadette has over 40 year's experience in the hotel industry. A graduate of Shannon College of Hotel Management she worked with Truste House Forte Group in England, the Movenpick Group in Geneva and with The Hyatt Regency Group in the Cayman Islands.  She returned to Killarney to work with the Great Southern Hotel Group, after which she returned to work in the family hotel in Killarney. Bernadette and her mother purchased the rectory house next door to the Dromhall Hotel in 1992 and developed it into Randles 4 star hotel. Bernadette is a past vice president of the Irish Hotels Federation and has been an active member of the Kerry branch of the Irish Hotels Federation for over 30 years. She has served on national council many times and is currently chair of the Kerry Branch.  She is a former President of Killarney Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, where she is still actively involved. She has also been involved in the Kerry Tourism Industry Federation and is currently Vice-Chairperson of Muckross House & Gardens.

Oliver Mangan, Chief Economist, AIB

Oliver Mangan is Chief Economist at AIB. He has worked as an economist in financial markets since 1990, first for Davy Stockbrokers and then AIB Treasury. He specialises in macro-economic forecasting and analysis of interest rate and currency markets. 

He also worked for the Australian Central Bank in Sydney and started his career as an economist in the Irish Civil Service in 1985. He holds a masters degree in Economic Science from UCD.

Paul Kelly, CEO, Fáilte Ireland

Paul Kelly has been the Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland since 2017. Paul has led Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, through the deepest crisis ever for our country’s tourism industry. His work now is focused on driving the sustained and sustainable recovery of the industry to ensure tourism contributes even more to the economic, social, cultural and environmental future of Ireland. This future will build on Fáilte Ireland's previous successes including the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland’s Ancient East, Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, the Dublin brand refresh and The Gathering.  

Paul’s leadership has led Fáilte Ireland to be listed in the top 20 best large organisations to work in for three consecutive years and listed in the top 5 most trusted organisations in the country. In 2020 Paul was named as Ireland's Most Trusted Leader by Great Places to Work. Before his appointment as CEO of Fáilte Ireland, Paul held several management and marketing leadership roles. Raised in a small retail family business, he began his career with Procter & Gamble UK. Paul then went on to senior executive positions with Diageo Ireland, Aviva and the UCD Smurfit Business School. Paul Kelly is a native of Co. Wexford and a Commerce graduate from University College Dublin. He is married and has four children. 

Sarah Duignan, Director of Client Relationships, STR

Sarah departed Irish shores in 2005 having spent seven years in hotel operations. She joined the HotelBenchmark team at Deloitte in London as a Business Development Executive and as the team re-structured came to manage a number of key international clients. STR Global was formed in 2008 following the merger of the HotelBenchmark team with The Bench and Smith Travel Research. In 2016, the international family of companies united under one brand: STR. As Director of Client Relationships, Sarah regularly attends and presents at hotel group and industry events. She holds an Honours Degree in Translation from DCU.

Niall Gibbons, CEO, Tourism Ireland

Niall oversees the marketing of the island across the world, leading a team of 160-plus in more than 20 markets, whose work is underpinned by sustainable destination marketing principles. In 2019, over 11 million overseas visitors contributed more than €5.8BN to the island of Ireland economies and supported 325,000 jobs. Niall has overseen Tourism Ireland’s emergence as a leader in digital marketing and led its expansion into new markets like China and the Middle East. He developed ground- breaking partnerships with LucasFilm and HBO which allowed Tourism Ireland to leverage the global success of Star Wars and Game of Thrones and showcase the island overseas in a new way. He has been a member of the Covid Tourism Recovery Taskforces in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. The World Economic Forum ranks Ireland 3rd in the world out of 136 countries for ‘effectiveness of marketing and branding to attract tourists’.