Our Board

Emily was Ireland’s first Ombudsman for Children, appointed in 2003 by the President. She served her five-year term as Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and is now a Commissioner on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

Emily is also Adjunct Professor in the School of Law, University College Cork.

She has worked with colleagues across the Council of Europe as Chair of the European Network of Ombudsman for Children and latterly as Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions.

With a background is in education, and a masters from UCD, Majella specialises in creative, inclusive, integrated initiatives that put children front and centre. As Founder of the multi-award winning museum, she recognises how fortunate she has been in bringing together a collective of extraordinarily special people, working together in a voluntary capacity on an historic first for Ireland – a museum ensuring that all children past to present are seen and heard, ensuring that all the children of the nation are cherished – equally.

Wearing the ‘little yellow dress,’ and holding tight to ‘Ted,’ the photo illustrates an aspect of Irish social history that continued throughout the 50s and 60s in Ireland: The Parcel from America. The dress, worn for parties by numerous children over the years, was included in a parcel sent to my family, and chosen especially for me by my paternal Aunt Norah Griffin, San Francisco, for my 3rd birthday.

My bike was my favourite childhood toy.  I was an avid reader as a child, I think I tracked down every Billy Bunter book ever written. After that I was a big Biggles fan…

Cian recently commenced a role as Manager of the Registrars Office in the National University of Ireland. Prior to this, Cian was the Head of Risk & Compliance for Sport Ireland, where he worked for 6 years. Cian joined the Board of the Museum in April 2021. Cian’s primary area of expertise as a Board member is maintaining and improving standards of governance by the organisation. In his spare time, Cian is an enthusiastic fencer with an active lifestyle who follows the fate of Leeds United and the Cork hurling team ardently. 

The childhood picture is of me “baking for the birds” which was a regular activity that my grandmother used to indulge me with. Those crows have given me some of the best feedback on my cooking!

Sinead has over 20 years experience working in strategy, research and project management, most recently at RTE.  She is passionate about innovation, creativity and problem solving. She holds a Masters in Psychology, a Diploma in Leadership and volunteers for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. She is an avid reader, an avowed feminist and is interested in all things culinary from baking to fermentation. She loves being outdoors, be it to the mountains, forest or sea.

When we were small we used to holiday in my aunt’s cottage in Donegal. We met this little donkey on the windy roads as we were adventuring one afternoon and Dad decided that we should all have a go on his back. After my two sisters and brother hopped on, it was my turn. This photo was taken just before the donkey decided that he’d had enough and decided to take off at full tilt, with me hanging on to his mane for dear life and Dad running beside him trying to lift me off.

Sorcha is a Senior Project Manager in the IT sector. She joined the museum as Lead of the Strategy Team in September, 2021. Through her background in project management, Sorcha looks to turn chaos into productivity. She holds a degree in Computer Science and a Master’s in Business and Entrepreneurship.

One of our favourite games as children growing up in Arklow was to play night chase! Sent out to play after school, we would not be called back in until after dark.

One of my fondest memories is of getting all dressed up to be a bridesmaid at my aunts wedding.  

Here I am looking pleased as punch and posing with my wonderful father.

David’s background is in strategic communications, research and public policy. In 2020, he founded Bassline Strategy, where he advises socially impactful organisations in Ireland and internationally. He has worked for two of Ireland’s foremost communications agencies and in community radio, and spent a decade overseas, as research director at a London start-up and as a policy advisor at a think tank in Brussels. He holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA from University College Dublin. He enjoys music and GAA, both as spectator and participant, and occasionally appears as a political analyst for international media outlets.

Growing up in rural Mayo, our house was beside a small sunken site we grandiosely called “The Valley”, where this photo was taken. My friends and I spent countless hours playing there, swinging on a tyre from an old sycamore, building huts, and concocting thrilling adventures. For all the sensation of independence and wild escape, I realise now, with amusement, how many of my parents’ odd jobs happened to focus on the laneway directly overlooking us. Though an illusion, the feeling of freedom meant a great deal and the memories persist.  

Sarah-Anne is Lecturer in History at the National University of Ireland Galway. Her research centres on the history of childhood and youth, gender and women in Ireland. Author of The Cruelty Man: Child Welfare, the NSPCC and the State in Ireland, 1889-1956 (Manchester University Press, 2013), she is President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland (WHAI), Chair of the Irish History Students Association, and Co-Director of the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour & Class (NUIG).  

“I have grown up alongside my care bear teddy bear, Carbie, who was the ripe age of 39 on 25 Dec 2023”

Eemer is Director of the team evaluating Dublin City University’s Futures initiative, and an independent research consultant. Her interests include programme evaluation, early school leaving, and structural aspects of education systems (she insists the latter is much more interesting than it sounds!). She has worked in educational research for over 25 years, and has contributed to significant policy changes affecting children’s lives in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Malta. 

Scamp arrived in our house shortly before I was born and lived long enough to see me off to college.  Free spirit, escape artist, brilliant footballer, hearing so sharp she could hear a sweet being unwrapped in the next county, robber of meat from the local shop. Infamously escaped our locked house to have a wander round the altar during mass. And of course, me, the mortified youngest, was sent up to catch her. Forgiven, but not forgotten.