BIOGRAPHIES Ruairí Quinn TD Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn TD was appointed Minister for Education and Skills in March 2011. He has been a public representative since 1974 and a TD representing the people of Dublin South-East since 1977. As Minister for Education and Skills, reform, jobs and fairness are at the heart of his agenda. Minister Quinn is passionate about delivering high-quality education to our growing population in a fair and equitable way. Ruairí Quinn has broad political experience, having served as a Minister in six different Departments, including as Minister for Finance from 1993-1997. From his time in government to serving as Leader of the Labour Party between 1997 and 2002, his depth of experience and political acumen is extensive. His political memoir, Straight Left— A Journey in Politics, was published in 2005. Before entering public life, Ruairí Quinn was an architect and town planner. He is married to Liz Allman. He has two sons and a daughter.
Prof. Brian Norton President, Dublin Institute of Technology Professor Brian Norton is President of DIT, one of Ireland’s largest institutions of higher education. Originally qualified as a physicist at University of Nottingham, Professor Norton holds doctorates in Engineering from Cranfield University and the University of Nottingham. He is a Fellow of the Energy Institute, Engineers Ireland, the Irish Academy 20
of Engineering, and the UK Higher Education Academy. Among his honours are the Napier Shaw Medal and Honorary Fellowship of CIBSE and the Roscoe Prize from the Energy Institute. He is an Honorary Professor of the University of Ulster; Harbin Institute of Technology, China; and University of Houston, USA. Renowned internationally for his research in solar energy, he has co-authored five books and over 350 research papers in the field. He also chairs the agency responsible for developing renewable energy use in Northern Ireland. He has been centrally involved in the realisation of the new DIT city centre campus at Grangegorman, the most significant development of its kind in higher education in Europe.
Terry Prendergast BSc, MPhil, MSc, MIPI Senior Planner Grangegorman Development Agency Terry Prendergast is the Senior Planner with the GDA. She is also a Lecturer in Planning with the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at DIT, where she has lectured for over 20 years. She has wide-ranging academic and professional experience in Ireland and abroad, including working for An Bord Pleanála, the United Nations, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, and various planning authorities throughout Ireland. Terry has been responsible for all aspects of planning for the Grangegorman development. As part of her responsibilities, she has steered the Grangegorman Planning Scheme 2012 through the statutory planning process. She is now working on delivering the Grangegorman development as well as continuing to lecture in DIT.
Anne O’Connor Health Service Executive Area Manager for Dublin North City Anne O’Connor is the Area Manager for HSE Dublin North City, which provides services to a population of in excess of 335,000 people. The Area spans from the Liffey to the Meath border and North Finglas on the West, and from the Liffey to Clontarf and Killester on the East. Having trained as an Occupational Therapist in the UK, Anne spent several years working in the UK , with brief periods working in India and Australia. She returned to Ireland in 1995 to work as a Senior Occupational Therapist and then Occupational Therapy Manager with the mental health services on the north side of the city. During this time she obtained a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy from Trinity College Dublin. From 2000- 2007, Anne worked on the south side of the city as Project Manager for the South Inner City of Dublin Partnership in Primary Care before returning to the Northside to take up the role of General Manager for Primary, Community and Continuing Care Services. She became Local Health Manager the same year and took up her current role in 2011. Anne has been a member of the Board of the GDA since 2010.