Meet the Board

Pat Begley - CHAIRPERSON

Pat was born in Southill in Limerick. He has been a voluntary community worker for the past 35 years. Positions he has held include Chairperson of the Gardai youth diversion programme, Southill Senior Citizens and Estate Management for Kincora/Carew Park. Currently, he is the area President for the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Vice Chairman for the Older Peoples Council, Age Friendly Alliance, and the Chairperson of the Southill Tidy Towns Group.

karen o'callaghan - secretary

Karen is a Supply Chain Events Manager at Dell Technology. She joined Dell 26 years ago and has worked in various roles across the supply chain and operations, including manufacturing leadership, global transformation programs and supply chain strategy. She is a local resident and has been involved with Carew Park FC for the last 22 years running the club and covering roles as Secretary and Treasurer along with underage coaching and community involvement.

Paul J.COADY

Paul hails originally from Limerick City but has worked and resided in Clare since the early eighties. His background is in Insurance, Banking & Property most recently being the Operations & Finance Director in “Munstergroup” being a founding director back in 2005. He has been involved in many organisations, in many different voluntary roles, over the years being a past president of the Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, Golf Club and so on and is currently treasurer of both the local golf Club and RNLI and has spent many years as an IRFU accredited coach with Kilrush RFC.

SUZANNE GOGGIN

Suzanne is a Chartered Accountant. She worked with KPMG for 8 years before moving to GE Capital European Funding as Assistant Financial Controller for 8 years. She is now the Head of Finance and Compliance for HAP Shared Services Centre in Limerick City & County Council.

John crowe

John is from Limerick City with a background in tourism, economic development, project management and community development. He is Deputy Director of Global Programmes with Department of Foreign Affairs based in Limerick. He was previously Head of Tourism for Limerick City and County with Shannon Development with responsibility for product development and marketing and has been involved in the development of King John’s Castle as a tourism product, the development of the different boardwalks around Limerick City, Limerick Festivals including St Patrick’s Festival, International Band Parade, Riverfest, etc.

He is a long-time member of St. Vincent De Paul Sacred Heart Conference and former President of Conference and a current member of Kerry County Council Audit Committee and a former Director of Ballyhoura Development Leader Company and Chair of Ballyhoura Finance & Audit Sub Committee.

Yvonne McNamara

Yvonne McNamara (BSocSci, Grad Dip Ed, MEd) is currently an assistant lecturer in the Technological University of the Shannon in Early Childhood Education. In her current role she develops and delivers modules in the areas of creative arts, play therapy and outdoor education.

With 17 years’ experience in the Education sector at Primary level working in special education, mainstream and disadvantaged schools, Ms. McNamara worked throughout her career on working in an inclusive holistic learning environment allowing students to excel in their education and development.

With a primary degree in Social Science and experience in the social care sector she worked with vulnerable young children in residential care. While her focus has been in education this is embedded within a social context