Orla O'Connor is Director of National Women’s Council (NWC), the leading national women’s membership organisation in Ireland, with over 190-member groups. She was Co-Director of Together For Yes, the national Civil Society Campaign to remove the 8th Amendment in the referendum. For her role in Together for Yes, Orla was recognised as one of the 100 Most Influential People by TIME magazine in 2019. Orla holds an MA in European Social Policy, and after starting out in local community-based projects, has worked in senior management in non-governmental organisations for over 25 years. Orla represents NWC in a wide range of national and international fora. Orla is a feminist, and an expert in the policies needed to progress women’s equality in Ireland. She is an accomplished public speaker, with a strong analysis of public policy. Orla has led numerous high level, successful campaigns on a wide range of issues on women’s rights, including social welfare reform, pension reform and for the introduction of quality and affordable childcare. Orla is passionate about ensuring access to women’s reproductive rights; about ensuring more women are in leadership positions; about ending violence against women; and increasing women’s economic equality.
As Head of Campaigns and Mobilisation, Rachel drives the strategic campaigns of NWC, working closely with NWC members, key partners, and other allies to build momentum and deliver change. Rachel is a trade unionist, a community and political activist and has over 7 years of experience in inspiring activism and campaigns. Before joining NWC, she was a political manager and organiser for Sinn Féin Ireland.
Eilish has a background in care, working in the Early Years sector for 16 years. She holds a BA Honors Degree in Early Education and Care and a MA in Social Policy. She is a trade union activist and was heavily involved in Siptu campaign for better pay and conditions for the early years sector. Eilish is passionate about a universal rights based approach to all care sectors.
Vanessa is the Project Officer of ‘Feminist Communities for Climate Justice’, a joint project between the National Women’s Council and Community Work Ireland aiming to put a gendered, feminist and community work lens on climate justice.
Doireann is NWC’s Women’s Health Policy Coordinator, responsible for leading policy, campaigns, and initiatives to support women’s access to inclusive and high-quality reproductive, sexual, and mental health services, in line with NWC’s Strategic Plan, working with the HSE and Department of Health to incorporate a gender perspective into policy, practice, and service delivery, covering a full breadth of health-related areas including reproductive rights, relationships and sexuality education, and mental health.
Liliana is a migrant activist originally from Venezuela, living in Ireland since 2013. She is deeply passionate about equal representation of minority groups in Irish politics. She delivers regular training to migrants and asylum seekers to raise awareness about migrant political rights. Currently, she serves as a mentor for several migrant women running in local elections and is the Director of the first ‘National Voter Registration Day’, a national campaign to encourage minority groups to register to vote in Ireland. Liliana is also the co-founder of the Latina Women Against Violence group, created for support, prevention and education to victims of domestic violence from the Latin community in Ireland.
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Jane is the Projects Administrator at NWC, providing administrative support across a variety of NWC initiatives, including the All-Island Women’s Forum, the All-Island Violence Against Women Working Group, and Community Safety Cafés. She also assists with general administrative tasks to support the organisation’s work. Passionate about cross-border dialogue, Jane is committed to fostering collaboration across the island of Ireland and its diverse communities.
Anne oversees the co-ordination and overall management of the Finances, office policies and compliance at NWC. She is a member of the Management Team and has worked in senior management roles over 20 years in the non-governmental and private sector.
Aoife promotes NWC's work via digital platforms, communicating our impact and delivering effective social media campaigns. She also manages the feminist changemaker programme.
Poushali is NWC's Women’s Health Officer and focuses her efforts on women's health including reproductive, sexual, and mental health issues. Her global perspective, cultivated through diverse experiences, enriches her work, reflecting a profound commitment to addressing critical gender issues.
Róisín Lambe is the Membership and Engagement Support Officer. At NWC, Róisín maintains and works with the Customer Relationship Management system (Salesforce), acts as a first port of call for membership queries and develops and maintains membership information as part of information materials, on the website and in our internal systems. She provides support for NWC events and meetings and is a member of NWC’s internal IT committee.
Catherine provides leadership and strategic direction to the NWC’s work, ensuring it is rooted in the experiences and expertise of its members. She mobilises and engages individual supporters and group members through a wide range of approaches, fostering their active participation in campaigns and policy development. Catherine also supports the implementation of the membership strategy in line with the Strategic Plan’s objectives, with a focus on advancing diverse leadership opportunities for women and girls across all sectors.
Collette is Project Coordinator of ‘Feminist Communities for Climate Justice’, a joint project between the National Women’s Council and Community Work Ireland, aiming to put a gendered, feminist and community work lens on climate justice. Collette has been working in the not-for-profit sector for over 5 years from fundraising, events and community development.
Susan provides support for the Head of Finance and Operations and NWC's Director and is also the Disability Access Officer for NWC ensuring that all our members and guests can participate in meetings in our building and online.
Vicky works as part of the communications team to deliver impactful messaging strategies, both digitally and traditionally. A key part of NWC's social media outreach, she assists in the development and implementation of campaigns in line with NWC's Strategic Plan.
Kate leads NWC’s policy and development work, supporting the overall strategic growth of the organisation. Kate has full oversight of NWC’s policy initiatives and manages the policy team to achieve their objectives. She identifies and builds alliances and collaborations with organisations across various sectors and represents NWC externally at local, national, and international levels.
Stephaney is NWC's Finance Officer. Stephaney works on consolidating the monthly accounts of the NWC and also manages the Staff Payroll. The main purpose of this role is to provide financial and administrative support to the Head of Finance & Operations.
Feargha is NWC's Violence Against Women Officer, supporting NWC’s goals of ending gender-based violence and exploitation through policy analysis, campaigning and advocacy, strategic communications, and fostering relationships and alliances.
Sinéad is the Communications and Social Media Coordinator at NWC. Sinéad focuses particularly on the media, ensuring that women's voices and the message of women's equality are central to the national conversation.
Silke leads on NWC’s communications and membership work. This includes developing effective Communications and Membership Strategies in line with NWC’s Strategic Plan and overseeing their implementation and integration into NWC’s work overall.
Donal is Women’s Economic Equality Co-ordinator with the NWC, leading policy and campaigns to further women’s economic equality and the provision of universal public services. His work focuses on gender and equality budgeting, work, social welfare, pensions, taxation, and public spending as related to women’s economic equality.
Ivanna is the Ending Violence Against Women Co-ordinator, responsible for leading advocacy, policy analysis, campaigning, and building relationships and alliances to advance the National Women’s Council's (NWC) goals of ending gender-based violence and exploitation. She works collaboratively with NWC members through the National Observatory on Violence Against Women and ensures that the full diversity of women is actively included in NWC’s efforts.
