Board of Directors

Siún Ní Raghallaigh

Dr Annie Doona – Chair

Dr Annie Doona is self-employed as an educational consultant specializing in quality, strategy development, equality and diversity. She is Emeritus President of IADT (Institute of Art, Design & Technology) Dun Laoghaire. She has experience in Chairing quality review panels, validation panels, programmatic and institutional reviews in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Dr Doona completed an eight-year term as Chair of Screen Ireland in March 2021. She is currently external Chair of Griffith College Academic Council. Dr Doona is a member of the Institute of Directors, and Women in Film and Television Ireland . She speaks and publishes on diversity and women in the film industry.

Dr Doona is a fan of film and theatre, walking and baking. She is married with one grown up daughter and lives in County Wicklow with her husband, her dog, two cats and four hens.

Siún Ní Raghallaigh

Lís Ní Dhálaigh

Is ó Chorca Dhuibhne ó dhúchas í Lís.  Tá sí ag obair le TG4 ó bunaíodh an cainéal, faoi láthair mar Stiúrthóir Margaíochta, Forbartha & Comhpháirtíochta, agus roimhe sin mar Stiúrthóir Aschur agus Ceannachán.  Bhí sí lárnach i bhforbairt Cúla4 agus Láithreachas TG4.  Ina ról reatha le TG4, is í atá i gceannas ar aschur Neamh líneach TG4 agus as cur chuige TG4 i leith forbairt & traenála sa tionscail.   Tá Lís ina ball de choiste Ciste Craoltóireachta ILBF agus í ina ball de bhord Ealaín na Gaeltachta.  Tá    Máistreacht sa Ghnó aici ó NUIG agus iarchéim in Riarachán na nEalaíne ó UCD.  Sular thosaigh sí le TG4, d’obair Lís le BBC Thuaisceart Éireann agus mar bhainisteoir léirithe san earnáil neamhspleách.  Chaith sí seal freisin le ag obair in Albain le Pròiseact nan Ealan.

Lís is Director of Marketing, Development & Partnerships at TG4, since 2016 and previously spent 8 years as Director of Acquisitions & Output with the channel. She is working with TG4 since launch and has played a key role in developing TG4’s children’s service Cúla4 and the TG4 channel’s presentation and brand. In her current role, she is leading TG4’s non-linear team and TG4’s initiatives to develop Irish language industry & talent. Lís is a committee member of the Northern Ireland Screen Irish Language Fund, and a board member with Ealaín na Gaeltachta. She has an Executive MBA from NUIG and a post graduate Diploma in Arts Administration from UCD. Prior to working with TG4, Lís worked with BBC Northern Ireland and as a freelance Production Manager in the Independent sector. She spent time working with The National Gaelic Arts Project in Scotland.

Steve Woods

Ronan McCabe

Ronan McCabe is the CEO of Animation Ireland, the trade association for the country’s leading animation studios. He has more than 25 years experience in the media industry and has a proven track record in the development and commercialisation of content and ancillary properties, in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the USA.

Ronan is a mentor through Enterprise Ireland and Screen Skills Ireland and has devised and delivered courses for Animation Skillnet.

He is the former managing director of Double Z Enterprises, an award winning production company that produced shows for RTE, TV3, Channel 4, BBC, ITV, MTV and Starz.

During his career he has worked with many companies on projects covering financing, negotiating of rights, formats, licensing & merchandising and co-production deals with broadcasters, promoters, music labels, licensees, advertisers and distributors.

Throughout his career Ronan has built strong relationships with key industry stakeholders both domestically and internationally. He regularly attends and presents at markets, festivals and industry gatherings both at home and abroad.

Kate O'Toole

Kate O’Toole

Kate O’Toole is an Irish actress. Her film work includes: Dancing at Lughnasa, Eden, 32a, Property of the State, Man on the Train and John Huston’s last film, The Dead. Her stage work includes Dead Funny with Rough Magic Theatre Co. (Irish Times Theatre Awards nomination for Best Actress) and Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast (Winner: Best Actress UK at the British Arts Council/TMA Theatre Awards). She starred opposite Albert Finney in Ronald Harwood’s Reflected Glory in London’s West End where she has also performed leading roles in plays ranging from Vanbrugh’s The Provok’d Wife to Molière’s Don Juan and Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams. She has toured Ireland extensively with Field Day Theatre Co. and in numerous productions with Druid Theatre Co. Her most recent stage performances were Mrs Leaf in The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and Connie Fairchild in Pat McCabe’s The Big Yum Yum for Corcadorca Theatre co.

Offstage, Kate has served on numerous international film festival panels and juries. She enjoyed a two year tenure as a senior judge for Listowel Writers’ Week, was a regular panelist on RTE’s flagship arts programme, The View, and is a board member on the Irish Film Board.

Brendan McCaul

Garry McHugh

Garry McHugh is National Director of Young Irish Film Makers, Ireland’s national youth film organisation. Garry is responsible for strategic planning, fund raising, artistic and programme development for the next generation of filmmakers and animators in Ireland. He currently manages partnerships with national funding bodies such as Screen Ireland, the Arts Council, Dept. of Children Equality Disability Inclusion & Youth, and the Education & Training Board.

Since taking over the National Development of the organisation in 2014, Garry has worked with the team at YIFM to grow the capacity of YIFM programmes to work with treble the number of young people over the past six years, delivering five times the number of contact hours with participants. Young Irish Film Makers now work with over 1900 young people annually across Ireland through the youth arts practice of film and animation. Demand is continuing to grow as YIFM film making and animation workshops are recognised for their ability to deliver high quality outcomes for young creatives from all backgrounds.

Garry is heavily involved in the programme design and delivery of informal education workshops delivering quality personal, social and creative outcomes for young people across Ireland. With a focus on film and animation workshops for secondary schools, youth development agencies and the youth arts sector nationwide.

Before he became involved in youth development and youth arts work, Garry was a professional filmmaker, musician and enjoyed treading the boards as an actor. He believes this grounding in the creative industries led him to where he works now, with young people through youth film programmes. He has twenty five years of experience in film production, broadcast radio and informal education & training. His CV ranges from corporate communications and music video production to training and informal education programmes in film, animation and digital media production.

Fran Keaveney

Fran Keaveney returned to Ireland in 1991, having spent four years in Australia, studying Film and TV and working at The Australian Film Studios in Melbourne. On her return she began freelancing on features and commercials and worked mainly in the production and locations departments. The following are some of the films she worked on, ‘Into The West, ‘The Snapper’, ‘In The Name of The Father’, ‘Moondance’, ‘A Man of No Importance’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘The Van’, ‘The Devil’s Own’ and ‘Let Us Prey’. 

She moved to Galway in 1996 and was the first production manager on the TG4 soap ‘Ros na Rún’ until joining the Irish Film Board in 2000 where she worked as Production Manger initially and then Short Films Executive for eight years.  She continued to work on a consultancy basis with Screen Ireland until she took on the role of Screen Skills Executive, Film & TV Drama Production, with Screen Skills Ireland in 2019. She has tutored at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, NUIG from 2007 to 2018 and was an assessor with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from 2013 to 2019. 

 

Sheila Morris

Sheila Morris is an experienced marketing and communications professional, who has been to the fore on an eclectic mix of global and domestic communications campaigns over her career. As Divisional Director at Edelman PR, the world’s largest independent PR Firm. Sheila managed a diverse portfolio of clients managing IPO’s, Brand Redesigns to Sponsorship activations, Global Leadership Conferences and International Book awards. 

Since 2015 she has been with the UCD Foundation where she is organiser of the annual UCD Festival, a unique university festival that inspires audiences and engages them in a meaningful way with the University. She has a great understanding of festival management with four years of building programmes, negotiating sponsorship agreements, setting budgets, working with creatives, liaising with statutory authorities, signing off on logistics, contracting staff, redesigning websites, aligning the marketing and digital strategy to dealing with media, food traders, and looking forward. 

Sheila holds a BA from UCD and a Diploma in Public Relations. She is Director of Four Provinces Films and a member of the PRII and has a great love of Galway.

Principal funder