Our Team

Board of Trustees

Mary Leahy

Mary Leahy. MSc (Hons) Healthcare Leadership, a Registered Nurse, Midwife and Public Health Nurse, has a long established career in a variety of healthcare settings, from Acute Care to Primary Healthcare settings, both in Ireland and abroad.

Mary also works as a workplace mediator within the healthcare services. Mary believes passionately that healthcare staff are the most valuable resource within our Healthcare settings, and should be valued and treated with compassion, care and dignity, will in turn be better equipped to provide a higher standard of quality care.

Mary has 3 children, Alan, Katie & Darragh is interested in politics, personal development and advocacy.

Ciaran Lanigan

Ciaran is currently working as a clinical nurse specialist in mental health and has held this position for the past 13 years. He is a registered nurse prescriber since 2013.

He has obtained a BSc hons Degree in Occupational Psychology from University of Ulster. He also has a Post Graduate Diploma in community healthcare from DCU and has achieved an MSc in Nursing from RCSI.

Ciaran was recently awarded an Honorary Associate by the RCSI. This was in recognition for his contribution to the development of mental health services in Dublin North City. He is a founder member of the advisory group for JIGSAW in Dublin 15 which is a counselling service for 12-26 year olds who are struggling with mental health issues.

As part of his role, Ciaran visits schools in the area to talk about mental health awareness. He has worked with the Leinster Metro Rugby Academy to talk about coping with disappointment and building resilience. Ciaran also works for The Wolfe Group as a consultant.

His role with the company involves teaching in areas such as quality, management and medication training.

As a consultant with both Healthy Workforce and Inspire Wellbeing Ciaran regularly delivers seminars in the areas of stress management, resilience building, coping with mental health issues in the workplace, sleep hygiene and a number of other mental health related topics.

He also delivers lifestyle coaching on an individual basis to employees. This has proven hugely beneficial to individuals that are struggling with the pressures placed upon them in the current times.

Trustee – Pending registration by the Charities Regulator and CRO.

David Hall

David and other concerned citizens established the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO) to help consumers tackle the increasing burden of personal debt. In addition to IMHO, David owns and runs Lifeline Ambulance Service, David founded the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 1992 and was its voluntary CEO for 10 years. David was president of the international organisation of Make-A-Wish from 1999 to 2001. David also chaired the Board of the Marie Keating Foundation from 2001 to 2011. David is a former Board member of the Beaumont Hospital Foundation.

Over the past 10 years David has been to the forefront on a National basis in advocating on behalf of those in mortgage, personal debt and with a housing need. David founded iCare Housing in 2018, a charity and approved housing body to help prevent people becoming homeless. They have bought 204 houses and have 600 tenants. David is the chairman of Inner City Helping Homeless, a frontline homeless charity advocating and providing services including outreach every night to those sleeping on the streets in Dublin.

David was appointed interim CEO of Console to assist protect its charitable purpose during a recent crisis. David was appointed as Chairperson of Animal Heaven Animal Rescue following governance concerns. Both services were successfully transferred to another relevant charity with a similar charitable purpose

Dr. Maitiú Ó Tuathail

Dublin based GP with experience in medical industrial relations and communications, and an interest in healthcare reform MB, Bch, BAO, Msc (Hons) Healthcare Management, MRCPI, MFSEM, MICGP.

Matt is currently a GP working part time in Ranelagh, Dublin city and part time with Safetynet Primary care a charity which provides medical care to the homeless, to asylum seekers and those suffering from addiction. Matt currently works in Safetynet’s Covid testing and assessment hub which provides Covid testing and assessment to the most marginalized in society.

He is a regular contributor to various media programs such as RTE’s Drivetime, Newstalk’s Hard Shoulder as well as TV programs such as Ireland AM, The Tonight show, Prime Time and Claire Byrne live.

Rynagh Gilligan

Rynagh Gilligan, RGN, RPN, Masters Leadership in Healthcare, Degree Nurse Management, Post Graduate Diploma Clinical Practice, former vice president IACCN.

Extensive national and international experience in general and intensive care nursing, working in a range of clinical, educational and managerial roles. Currently Assistant Director of Nursing, Critical Care, in a large Dublin academic teaching hospital. Passionate advocate for education and staff development. Married and a proud mum of a nine year old!

Trustee – Pending registration by the Charities Regulator and CRO.

Niall Dennehy

Niall is a business strategy consultant at a large multinational company based in Dublin. Niall Studied Biochemistry in Trinity College, and completed a MSc in Management in University College Dublin.

Niall has a diverse skill set and vast experience in working with and leading NGO’s and Charity organisations in Ireland and the UK.

Ryan O'Loughlin

Ryan is a solicitor having been admitted to the roll in 2018. Ryan works for M D O’Loughlin & Company in Bray, County Wicklow, gaining experience in the areas of Personal Injuries, Medical Negligence, Defamation and Commercial Contracts.

Outside of work Ryan enjoys many pastimes which include rugby, golf, and fly fishing.

Pádraic Ó Ruairc

Experience working across the private, not-for-profit and public sectors. In the NGO sector experience in community and target group services in Ireland and overseas.

Last held position in Ireland was as Services Manager at SafetyNet. Prior to that held various positions within the Rural Transport Programme. Additionally held senior positions overseas in Ethiopia, Kosova/Serbia, Zimbabwe and North Korea. Short term assignments in East Timor, North Macedonia, Liberia, Uganda and Bangladesh. Roles included Country Director, Logistics and Operations Management and Humanitarian Response.

Non-Executive Director at the charities Vita RTI and Social Finance Foundation both to expire mid-2021. Qualified to MSc in Development Management.

Sandra Morton

Sandra qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1995 in the Adelaide Hospital Dublin. She has 25 years of diverse Perioperative experience in public and private hospitals in Ireland, Australia and the United Arab Emirates where she was Chair of the Centre of Excellence in Joint replacement.

She returned to Ireland to undertake her Post graduate Diploma in Nursing (Peri-operative) in 2003 at Trinity College Dublin Completed a MSc Health Service Management in TCD with distinction saving 3% of a hospital budget through effective supply chain management in theatre.

Passionate patient safety advocate.

HEROESAID Staff

Micheál Gannon - Chief Executive Officer

A graduate of DIT and the Irish Management Institute, Micheál spent most of his career with Aer Lingus, holding positions across the organisation and serving as a member of the senior management and leadership team, most recently as Director of Brand and Customer Experience.

Prior to joining Heroes Aid Micheál was a key member of aviation technology start-up, SHIFT Aviation Solutions Ireland, where he devised marketing, operations, IT and investor strategies; successfully delivering the first phases of an innovative air traffic management support system.

Michael Cahill - Communications Executive

Having studied TV and Media Production at the Institute of Technology Carlow, Michael has always had a passion for communications, events and production management.

He has worked on many live theatrical and video productions, focusing on set design, direction and lighting. Michael was also involved in many local and national events acting as event coordinator and public relations officer.

Before joining Heroes Aid, Michael worked as Vice President of Communication and Events at the Institute of Technology Carlow Students’ Union. Working during the height of the pandemic, he worked with college authorities to devise new ways of engaging with students and ensuring that they had the best college experience possible while working from home.

A new Broadcasting Network was established and has now over 125,000 views across 120 videos.

Board of Trustees

HEROESAID Staff

Your contribution is important for us.

100% of your Donation goes to the Charity.