Noelle has been the CEO of EM Ireland since April 2011 with overall responsibility for all governance, financial and operational matters of the organisation in growing its development as it works to further strengthen the connection between Ireland and Europe.
Noelle O Connell
In November 2020, Noelle was elected as a Vice-President of the board European Movement International. Noelle is also the official spokesperson for the organisation and has regularly presented in national and international media in addition to leading on a variety of national and international training, communications, education, outreach and citizen engagement programmes on behalf of EM Ireland. Prior to joining EM Ireland, she provided business development training, education and public affairs consultancy to a wide variety of both private and public sector clients including government bodies and in the third level sector including HEA, Fulbright Commission, Irish Research Councils.. She held management consultancy positions in Accenture; headed up the Training, Education and Business Development function of the Construction Industry Federation, and was formerly a Director on the Board of the semi state agency, Skillnets. Noelle previously worked on Business Development and Member relations for the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society in addition to working with Thea and on an Interreg Programme.
Noelle is also a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Training and Development, and International Leadership Fellow of the Society of St. George Windsor Castle, a member of the CIPD and the Institute of Directors of Ireland, a voluntary Board Director of Alliance Française Ireland and Chair of the UCC Dublin Alumni Chapter. In 2017, she was awarded the Chévalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite – awarded second highest national order of France by the President of the Republic of France for public service between Ireland and France. A qualified Coach, she holds a BA Hons in European Studies and Languages from UCC, DEUF diploma from Université Jean Moulin, Lyon III, France and an MSc in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh Scotland.
Dee McMahon
Chief Operations Officer
Dee joined EM Ireland in August 2023 and is the Chief Operations Officer. Dee directs and develops the organisations’ finance and operation agenda, reporting at board level as required.
Dee is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years’ experience working in both the commercial and the not-for-profit sectors.
After qualifying as an accountant, she started her career in Bank of Ireland Finance as Management Accountant and then quickly moved back to commerce employed as a Financial Accountant for Ballsbridge Motors where she was promoted to Assistant General Manager. After 6 years she decided to do some voluntary work overseas with the aid agency GOAL and took a post as field Accountant in Darfur in Sudan but continued in the agency moving to Pakistan in 2005 after the earthquake, progressing to roving Financial Coordinator in 2006 and finally becoming Head of Logistics and Compliance for GOAL global in 2009.
In 2011 Dee set up DMM Consulting to provide accounting and business advice to start-up businesses, growing organisations and charities. During this time, she was one of the founding members of Cycle Against Suicide and helped create the inaugural cycle around Ireland raising awareness of mental health. Dee then moved to work full time in The Children’s Medical and Research Foundation (CMRF), the fundraising charity for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital as Finance Director in 2016 where she led the finance and compliance teams as well as being company secretary. She was part of the leadership team on the merger between CMRF and Temple Street Foundation in 2019 and once completed Dee moved to The National Council for the Blind (NCBI) where she took up the position of CFO, heading up the finance function and managing all finances for the charity.
Dee is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, a voluntary board Director of Edmund Rice Development, an overseas development charity, and the proud winner of the Good Governance Awards in 2018.
Rory Harte
Head of Strategy
Rory joined EM Ireland in December 2017, and leads on EM Ireland’s strategic planning, its ongoing engagement with community stakeholders, and its work combatting dis/misinformation. He works to ensure that EM Ireland’s work is targeted, evidence driven, ambitious, inclusive and credible.
Rory has almost twenty years’ experience in high level communications consultancy, working in Ireland, the UK, Belgium and New Zealand. His main work has been in the area of behaviour-change communications, with a focus on public affairs, political engagement, social change, online extremism and disinformation. Rory holds a BA in Journalism and Media Communications, and an MSc in Cyberpsychology.
Cathy Gray
Head of Communications and Youth Engagement
Cathy joined EM Ireland in September 2022. Cathy manages EM Ireland’s media liaison; communications and youth engagement strategies.
Having spent a number of years working as a journalist at both a local and national level, Cathy then worked at senior management levels in organisations specialising in PR, communications, stakeholder engagement and public affairs.
Her more recent position prior to EM Ireland was Head of Communications and Public Affairs with Down Syndrome Ireland. Having worked with one of Ireland’s largest youth organisations Foróige and with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, she also has expertise in youth engagement and communications.
With a Masters in Journalism and Public Relations from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a PRII member, Cathy is passionate about helping people tell their story and empowering them to have their voices heard.
Ryan Levis
Digital Communications Manager
Ryan joined EM Ireland in September 2015 as a Stagiaire, and is now the Digital Communications Manager, with responsibility for implementing the latest digital marketing strategies, fostering brand awareness and producing audio and visual content for the organisation.
Ryan’s duties include managing the organisation’s website, leading on content creation, analysing relevant data and metrics, managing social media platforms, producing webinars, videos and podcasts. Ryan also works closely with the Head of Communications in designing and driving effective communications strategies for the organisation.
Ryan graduated with a Master’s in International Relations from University College of Cork.
Ciarán Murray
Events and Business Development Manager
Ciarán joined EM Ireland in November 2017 as a Stagiaire, and is now Events and Business Development Manager. Ciarán manages EM Ireland’s events, while also leading on membership engagement and EM Ireland’s EU Jobs campaign.
Prior to working at EM Ireland, Ciarán worked in banking and finance and as a Schuman Stagiaire in DG Finance in the European Parliament. Ciarán graduated from the Quinn School of Business, UCD with an Hons. Bachelor of Commerce International.
Elizabeth Moody
Events Officer
Elizabeth joined EM Ireland in August 2021 and is the organisation’s Events Officer. Elizabeth manages EM Ireland’s members’ events and projects on behalf of key stakeholders such as the Department of Foreign Affairs, the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
She gained experience in the events industry at Keynote PCO, MCI Dublin and the Shelbourne Hotel. She previously worked with the Irish Girl Guides and continues to volunteer with them.
She has a Bachelors degree in Event Management from the Dublin Institute of Technology and a Masters in International Management from Trinity College Dublin.
Matthew O'Neill
EU Information and Research Officer
Matt joined EM Ireland in May 2023. Prior to joining EM Ireland, Matt completed an interdisciplinary PhD in Politics and Technology. Matt’s research experience is within the areas of European Defence Policy, Technology and Artificial Intelligence and EU Institutions.
Matt’s role at EM Ireland is to support the NGO’s ongoing research aims and goals, aiding the team with projects and on-going campaigns.
Before joining, Matt taught Contemporary European Politics and Policy at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics (HAPP) at the Queen’s University of Belfast (QUB). Matt has also worked within Public Affairs, focusing on stakeholder engagement and political analysis.
A graduate of the Mitchell Institute at QUB Matt has published several articles and is the co-editor of the ‘The Irish Defence Forces and Contemporary Security’. He is currently working on his first monograph with Palgrave on the EU’s Digital Single Market.
Muireann O'Shea
Communications Officer
Muireann joined EM Ireland in November 2020 as a Stagiaire and is now the Communications Officer. Her role includes social media management and content creation. Muireann has worked on EM Ireland projects, including NasCSO, the Conference on the Future of Europe and the College of Europe application process.
Muireann has a Bachelor’s degree in history and Politics and a Masters in Politics from UCD. She also spent a year as Editor of the UCD campus Student paper The College Tribune.
Gabrielle Leleu
Engagement Officer
Gabrielle joined EM Ireland in August 2022 as the Projects Coordinator – Education and Outreach. Her role involves supporting EM Ireland’s education workstreams, including target audience identification, administrative support and communications.
Prior to EM Ireland, she worked in Accenture and completed the Schuman Traineeship in the European Parliament Liaison Office Dublin. Gabrielle worked as a presenter and reporter during her teenage years for RTE Young People on shows such as Elev8 and Swipe TV. She interviewed President Michael D. Higgins and reported on current affairs, history and politics.
She is half French and is trilingual (English, Irish and French). She holds a Law degree from the TUD and a Masters in International Public Policy and Diplomacy from UCC.
Emma Rooney
PA & Engagement Officer
Emma joined EM Ireland in September 2022 as Policy Stagiaire and now works as EA for EM Ireland’s CEO and as Engagement Officer.
Emma has a BA in French and International Studies and a MSc in International Public Policy from Queen’s University Belfast. She was a part of the Washington Ireland Program and an Intern at the World Bank. She is a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum and was a member of the UK Youth Parliament.
Ciarán O’ Driscoll
Policy and Research Officer
Ciarán joined EM Ireland in October 2019. His core role is to support our research, policy and advocacy outputs, and assist other team members in our various programmes, projects, events and campaigns.
He has over eight years’ experience in EU policy tracking and research. His academic focus has been on policy process, in particular with the Common Fisheries Policy. More recently he has published work on how Brexit will impact Ireland’s sea fisheries as part of the IIEA’s Emerging Voices Group. Prior to joining EM Ireland, Ciarán was the Economic Research Officer at the Irish Maritime Development Office which involved producing research on Brexit’s impact on Ireland’s use of the landbridge.
He has a number of years of lecturing experience having lectured on the EU and integration studies at University College Dublin. He holds a Master’s in European integration from the University of Limerick.