All Island Skills Conference

Building Better Skills Together

Speakers

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  Mary Coughlan, Tánaiste, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

  Mary was appointed Tánaiste, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on 7^th May 2008. Previously she has served as Minister for Agriculture and Food, Minister for Social and Family Affairs and Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. She has been a member of Dail Eireann since 1987. She was opposition spokesperson on Educational Reform between 1995 and 1997. She served as a chairperson of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Irish Language between 1993 and 1995 and was a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body between 1991 and 1992. Ms. Coughlan served as a member of County Donegal County Council between 1986 and 2001 and as a member of the North Western Health Board between 1987 and 2001.

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  Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and Learning

  Sir Reg was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, a position he held until the collapse of the power-sharing Executive in October 2002.  During the summer of 2001 he served for a time as acting First Minister of Northern Ireland and in 2004 became Deputy Leader of the Ulster Unionist Assembly Party.  A year later he was elected Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Following the restoration of the Executive on 8 May 2007 Sir Reg was appointed to his present position as Minister at the Department for Employment and Learning.  He has had an active career in Belfast City Council since 1985 where he has twice been Lord Mayor of Belfast.  He was awarded an OBE in 1994 for his services to local government.

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  Conference Compere

  Miriam O'Callaghan RTE Broadcaster

  Miriam presents RTÉ's flagship current affairs television programme Prime Time.  Before joining RTÉ, she worked for ten years in British television, seven of those as a reporter for BBC 2's Newsnight programme.  Miriam went to University College Dublin at the age of sixteen and studied Law, becoming a solicitor at the age of twenty.  After practising as a solicitor for two years, Miriam moved to London where a career change saw her enter the world of television journalism.  Her television career has involved working as a researcher for Eamon Andrews’ This Is Your Life programme, a reporter on Reporting London,  producer on the BBC Kilroy programme and working on the BBC2 programme Newsnight as a reporter were she was the main reporter on Northern Ireland for six years.

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  John Martin, Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

  John is Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD; his brief also covers OECD work on health and international migration. John P. Martin joined the OECD in 1977 and has held several posts in his current directorate and in the Economics Department. He was the founding editor of the OECD Employment Outlook from 1983 to 1986, and he also edited the OECD Economic Outlook in 1992-93. He was a member of both the Editorial Board of OECD Economic Studies and an associate editor of Labour Economics for many years.

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  Anne Heraty, Chair of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs

  Anne is Chairperson of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs and Chief Executive of Computer Placement (CPL) Resources plc. A publicly quoted company, CPL provides recruitment and outsourcing services across a range of disciplines and sectors. Anne holds a BA degree in Mathematics and Economics from University College Dublin. Anne is a Board member of Forfás and a Non-Executive Director of Bord na Móna and the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.

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  Michael Carr

  Michael is the co-ordinator of the EURES crossborder partnership for Northern Ireland and Ireland since November 2006. The EURES Cross-border Partnership's aim is to assist the free movement of labour throughout Northern Ireland and Ireland and is funded under the EU Commission. It provides a forum for addressing issues affecting cross-border labour mobility. Through its unique partnership arrangement it aids communication between Employers, Trade Unions and Public Employment Services on both sides of the border.

  Michael is a qualified cost and management accountant and has previously worked in the contracted training area of FAS in the North West. Prior to that appointment he was Financial accountant in a large multi-national company in the border area.

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  John Spangler

  John Spangler is the Vice President and Plant Manager of the Springtown wafer fabrication facility. Prior to this John worked for ten years as Executive Director of Water Process Engineering in Seagate Recording Heads Operations, Bloomington, Minnesota, USA. John's major accomplishments at Seagate include being the leader of the team responsible for the production of the world record 16Gb/in² recording density demonstration; team leader for the development and production ramp of the 7 Gb/in² GMR transducer; technology team leader for task force that developed and ramped in production, Seagate's first magneto resistive thin film head; process engineering team leader responsible for Seagate's 3.2 Gb/in² high yielding, industry leading MR head technology and team leader for the design of Seagate's thin film head plants in Derry, Northern Ireland and the new 200,000 square foot facility in Bloomington, Minnesota.

  John has over 30 years wafer fabrication experience in the semiconductor and recording head industry. Previously worked for Motorola, Western Digital Corporation, Hughes Aircraft and Signetics Corporation.

  John is currently Chairman of the North West Workforce Development Forum

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  Paul Hannigan, President of Letterkenny Institute of Technology

  Paul has been President of Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) since January 1998.  Having graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Commerce (1985) and Masters of Business Studies, specialising in Human Resources Management (1986), he began work as a lecturer in Economics and Human Resource Management in Dundalk RTC in 1987.  In 1992 Paul took on the position of Head of Department of Business Studies in Dundalk, until his appointment to Letterkenny.  A native of County Donegal, Paul is committed to the development of the North West region and has presided over major developments in LYIT over the last 10 years.

  Paul is a former member of the Higher Education Authority serving from November2000 – 2005 and is currently a Board member of the Central Applications Office (CAO).  He is active on a number of national committees of the Institutes of Technology Ireland and was the Chairman of this group in 2004.  He is a former Chair of Líonra, the higher education network in the BMW region.  Paul currently serves on the Donegal County Development Board and on the NW Regional Executive of IBEC.

  In January 2008 was appointed as President of LYIT for a further ten years.

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  Professor Bernie Hannigan

  Since April 2008 Professor Hannigan has held the positions of Director of R&D for Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety (NI). Previously she was Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) at the University of Ulster where she was responsible for ensuring the quality of research carried out across all disciplines in the University, for the commercial development of research findings and for maintaining relationships between the University and business. Bernie continues as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Strategic Projects) in a part-time capacity. Between 1999 and 2004 Bernie was Dean of the Faculty of Life & Health Sciences, also at Ulster.  

  Professor Hannigan is an Immunologist with particular interest in the relationships between nutrition and immune competence. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, she has published almost 100 peer-reviewed papers, supervised 21 students to successful doctoral graduation and attracted significant external research funding from a variety of UK and international sources.  Externally Professor Hannigan has a considerable track record of Board membership on organisations that focus on innovation, science parks, knowledge / technology exchange and the support of emerging technology-based companies.  From 2002 to 2008 she was a member of the Executive Board of Invest Northern Ireland.  

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  Seán Haughey T.D. Minister of State

  Seán Haughey has been a member of the Dail since 1992. Seán was Chairman of the joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment , Heritage and Local Government from 2004-2006. Seán has been a Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science since December 2006. He has Special Responsibility for Lifelong Learning, Educational Disadvantage, and School Transport. Since June 2007, He has also been a Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

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  Dr Bill McGinnis - Northern Ireland Advisor on Employment and Skills

  Mr McGinnis is Chair of the McAvoy Group (Off-site building solutions). He is currently a board member of Tourism Ireland and Chair of Air Route Development Ltd. Upon appointment Mr McGinnis will be stepping down from his position of non-executive director of the Department for Employment and Learning. Mr McGinnis was previously Chair and Managing Director of Sperrin Metal Ltd., a board member of Invest Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Chair of the Learning and Skills Advisory Council and the Training and Employment Agency. He was also a Belfast Harbour Commissioner.

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  Aideen McGinley Permanent Secretary, Department for Employment and Learning

  Aideen is the current Permanent Secretary of the Department for Employment and Learning and was previously the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (1999-2005). She was formerly Chief Executive of Fermanagh District Council. In her 25 years in local government, she worked in Community Services and Economic Development in Strabane and Fermanagh and as a Town Planner in Donegal.

  She is a graduate of Salford University BSc Hons in Environmental Science (1975) and has a Masters in Social Policy, Administration and Planning (1983) from the University of Ulster who also conferred on her and Honorary Doctorate in 1998. She has successfully completed the Leadership Challenge (1992) and a United States 'Distinguised Victors' Programmeon Sustainable Economic Development (1994) and is a graduate of the Harvard Women in Power Leadership Programme (2006).

  In 2000, she was awarded an OBE and in 2004, became an Honorary member of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and a 'Women of Inspiration' Award in 2007.

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  Seán Gorman - Secretary General, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

  Seán Gorman was appointed Secretary General, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 2004. His most recent assignment was as Assistant Secretary in the Labour Force Development Division of the Department. Seán's responsibilities included Labour Market Policy, Economic Immigration and managment of the European Social Fund in Ireland. He was also the representative of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the board of FÁS - the Training and Employment Authority.

  He has an extensive background in the areas of transport policy, industrial policy and training having previously served on the Boards of CERT/Fáilte Ireland, (the state tourism agency) and Shannon Development.

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  Francesca Froy, Policy Analyst - OECD Paris

  Francesca Froy is a Policy Analyst at the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) programme in Paris, where she focuses on local governance and employment issues, implementing international studies on, ‘Designing local skills strategies,’ the ‘Local integration of immigrants into the labour market’ and ‘Integrating employment, skills and economic development’. An anthropologist by background, she also helps to deliver capacity building events in LEED’s Trento Centre for Local Development in Italy.