Our People - Plan International Ireland

Paul O’Brien

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Paul O'Brien is CEO of Plan International Ireland. With a career spanning 30 years in development and humanitarian work he has lived and worked in a number of developing countries, including Kenya, Sudan, Liberia, Bangladesh and Tanzania. A senior leader in Ireland’s NGO sector for the last 14 years, Paul still travels extensively in his work with Plan International Ireland.

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Donal Maher

Chief Operations Officer

Nenagh native Donal joined Plan International in 2006.

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Carole Wickham

Head of Fundraising and Communication

Carole joined Plan International Ireland in May 2021 bringing over 25 years’ experience in marketing, strategy and communications.

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Dualta Roughneen

Head of Programmes

Dualta joined Plan International Ireland in 2009 after completing a Masters in Human Rights in UCD. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and was appointed Head of Programmes in February 2016.

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Catja Carlson

ICT & Applications Support Officer

Catja joined Plan International Ireland in July 2021 as our ICT & Applications Support Officer.

Emily Curran

Programme Support Officer

Emily Curran is a part-time Programme Support Officer in the Multi-Lateral Unit.

Julie Dwyer

Senior Business Development Officer

Julie re-joined Plan International Ireland in January 2022 as the team lead for the Business Development Unit.

Katie Drea

Media and Communications Officer

Katie has over five years of experience in communications with NGO's, as well as in fundraising, project management, journalism, and editorial styling.

Linda Fuhrmann

Senior Compliance Officer

A dedicated humanitarian worker, Linda joined Plan International Ireland in September 2015 after working in West Africa in response to the Ebola crisis.

Nicole Heimberg

Business Development Officer

Anna Keane

Individual Giving Manager

Jemma Lawlor

Finance Officer

Jemma joined Plan International Ireland in April 2017 as Finance & Operations Administrator and is currently Finance Officer.

Emily Lyon

Desk Officer

Emily joined Plan International Ireland in February 2021 and currently manages the humanitarian and protracted crisis programme grants from Irish Aid.

Kelly Souza Marron

Emergencies Officer

Kelly joined Plan International Ireland in May, 2019.

David Martyn

Education Researcher

David joined Plan in 2019. He is an Employment Based PhD Scholar with funding from the Irish Research Council.

George Massey

Programme Team Lead Multilateral

George's overseas experience includes programmes in Haiti, Iraq and Sierra Leone.

Clare McPhillips

Donor Relations Officer

Deirdre Murray

Programme Team Lead Irish Aid

Deirdre joined Plan International Ireland in July 2017 and has many years’ experience working in the international development sector.

Saidbh O'Duffy

Finance and Operations Administrator

Ronan O'Neill

Grants Accountant

An experienced accounting professional, Ronan is a keen runner and has spent over 10 years working overseas managing large development programmes.

Dylan Phelan

Donor Relations Officer

Dylan joined Plan in September 2021 as a Donor Relations Officer.

Lorenza Quadrini

Programme Team Lead EU

Lorenza joined Plan International Ireland in 2018 with 15 years’ experience in the Development and Humanitarian sectors.

Yseult Quinn

Events and Corporate Fundraising Officer

Yseult joined Plan International Ireland in August 2021 and has many years’ experience in Sales & Marketing and Event Management.

Emilia Sorrentino

Education in Emergencies Advisor

Emilia has a background in Education in Emergencies and Psycho-Social Support. She spent four years in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Gaza and the West Bank) where she worked as Programme Manager and later as Country Director for an Italian NGO.

Ashley Westpheling

Development Education Officer

Ashley joined Plan International Ireland in 2019 following the completion of a MSc Humanitarian Action from University College Dublin.