Fiach Mac Conghail | |
---|---|
Senator | |
In office 25 May 2011 –8 June 2016 | |
Constituency | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Personal details | |
Born | Dublin,Ireland | 4 August 1964
Political party | Independent |
Spouse | Bríd NíNeachtain |
Children | 2 |
Fiach Mac Conghail (born 4 August 1964) is CEO of the Digital Hub Development Agency. [1] He is a former director of the Abbey Theatre from 2005 to 2016. [2] He is a former Senator from 2011 to 2016 and was appointed by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny. [3] [4]
His father,Muiris Mac Conghail,was a filmmaker and broadcaster who served as Government Press Secretary and was Controller of Programmes at RTÉ;his mother is a noted genealogist. Mac Conghail was raised in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar and attended Coláiste Eoin and later Trinity College Dublin,where he studied Economics and Politics. [2] [5] [6]
Mac Conghail was the artistic director at the Project Arts Centre from 1992 to 1999. [7] [8] He was the Director of Ireland's participation at the Expo 2000 world fair and acted as Cultural Programme Commissioner during the Irish Presidency of the European Union in 2004. [9] With his brother Cuan,he established the production company Brother Films in 1996. [5]
Mac Conghail was a special adviser to the Minister for Arts,Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue from 2002 to 2005. In 2005,he was appointed as Director of the Abbey Theatre. [10]
When Mac Conghail announced his 2016 programme,"Waking the Nation",for the centennial year of the 1916 Rising,a storm ensued. Only one of the ten plays on the programme was written by a woman and only three directed by women. This sparked a campaign called "Waking the Feminists" to demand gender equality in theatre. Mac Conghail acknowledged that he had "failed to check his privilege". [11]
He was appointed to Seanad Éireann in May 2011 and sat as an independent. He was the chairman of the We the Citizens,an initiative that aims to encourage the participation of the public in political affairs. [12] [13]
Mac Conghail is married to Bríd NíNeachtain,and they have two daughters.
The Abbey Theatre,also known as the National Theatre of Ireland,in Dublin,Ireland,is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904,and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951,it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world;from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State. Since July 1966,the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street,Dublin 1.
Ivana Catherine Bacik is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since winning a by-election on 9 July 2021. Bacik previously served as Leader of the Labour Party in the Seanad from 2011 to 2021,and a Senator for the Dublin University constituency from 2007 to 2021. She previously served as Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann from 2011 to 2016.
Events from the year 1951 in Ireland.
Marc MacSharry is an independent,formerly Fianna Fáil,politician who is a Teachta Dála (TD) for Sligo–Leitrim since 2016. From 2002 to 2016,he was a Fianna Fáil Senator on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. He resigned from Fianna Fáil's parliamentary party in September 2021,alleging double standards. He resigned his Fianna Fáil membership in November 2022,amid claims he had bullied colleagues.
Coláiste Eoin is a Catholic voluntary secondary Gaelcholáiste for boys,under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust,in Booterstown,County Dublin,Ireland. It has hurling and Gaelic football teams,traditional Irish music bands,and Irish language debating teams. The school is financed by resources from the Department of Education and voluntary donations.
Michael ffrench-O'Carroll was an Irish politician and medical doctor. He was an independent Teachta Dála (TD) and Senator. He served one term in each house of the Oireachtas in the 1950s.
How Many Miles to Babylon? is a novel by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston,first published in 1974. The novel explores the relationship of two men,an Anglo-Irish aristocrat,Alexander Moore,and a lower class son of a labourer on his lands,Jerry,as they experience the First World War.
There are 60 seats in Seanad Éireann,the senate of the Oireachtas. Its composition is set out in Article 18 of the Constitution of Ireland. This provides for 11 senators to be nominated by the Taoiseach who is appointed next after the general election to Dáil Éireann.
Mary Fitzpatrick is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020,after being nominated by the Taoiseach.
David Kenny is a journalist,broadcaster,best-selling author and songwriter living in Dublin,Ireland.
Bríd NíNeachtain is an Irish actress known for Dancing at Lughnasa.
Regina Doherty is an Irish Fine Gael politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency since the 2024 European Parliament election. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath East constituency from 2011 to 2020. She was the Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 2020 to 2024,serving as leader of the Seanad from 2020 to 2022 and Deputy leader of Seanad Éireann from 2022 to 2024. She served as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection from 2017 to 2020 and Government Chief Whip from 2016 to 2017.
Katherine Zappone is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from 2016 to 2020. She previously served as a Senator from 2011 to 2016,after being nominated by the Taoiseach.
Marie-Louise O'Donnell is an Irish academic,and later broadcaster and politician,who served as a Senator from 2011 to 2020,after being nominated by the Taoiseach. She played a key role in the arts at Dublin City University over a 23-year period,including in the launch of the Helix cultural centre.
Muiris Mac Conghail was an Irish journalist,writer,broadcaster,poet,and film-maker.
Paul Mercier is an Irish playwright screenwriter,film and theatre director. Born in Dublin and living in An CheathrúRua he was the founder member and Artistic Director of the Passion Machine Theatre Company,and is a Director with Anne Gately of the film production company An Pointe Productions. His work is known for its gritty poetic realism and examination of ordinary,contemporary Irish life.
Lorraine Clifford-Lee is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020.
The Digital Hub is a cluster of technology,digital media and internet companies in The Liberties area of Dublin,Ireland. The hub consists of almost 75 companies located in eight buildings,collectively employing 700 people. It is the largest enterprise cluster of its kind in Ireland.
Annie Hoey is an Irish Labour Party politician who has served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since April 2020.
Eileen Flynn is an Irish independent politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020,after being nominated by the Taoiseach.