In what year did you graduate from Loreto College? 

I graduated in 1973 and my favourite subjects were Irish, English and History. I didn't take music as a subject but I enjoyed it and enjoyed being in the orchestra (viola) and in choirs. To this day, people regularly remind me that I'm not much of a singer!

What is your favourite memory from Loreto College?

I was from Tipperary, and was a boarder so it was an amazing experience to be living in the centre of Dublin, looking out on St. Stephen's Green and being part of the city (Even though the regime was strict, and we only had limited  access to the world around us!).

Which teacher most influenced or inspired you?

I truly had lots of really good teachers, all of whom definitely influenced me. They were decent people too - something that wasn't necessarily true for every girl in other schools in my time. 

What’s been your journey since leaving/ What led to your current career path?

I fully intended to try to become a primary school teacher, like my mother and aunts and grandmother until it came to filling out the CAO form. And then, whatever chatting I was doing, I ended up putting down Law in UCD as my first preference. I don't believe I even told my parents at the time. But anyway, I got it and loved it when I got there. There were three other girls from my class there too, so I knew a few people in the class going in. It was as random as that. With no one in my family or circle being a lawyer, I also randomly chose solicitor rather than barrister. I loved that too, and practised in Tipperary, in Naas and in my own practice in Dublin. While it seems equally random that, mid-career, I gave that up the practice for campaigning organisations, like Free Legal Advice Centres, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and now the Children's Rights Alliance, there was method to my madness because I'd volunteered with various organisations over the years and it just seemed right to engage in causes that really mattered to me. I've just seen this Rumi quote: "As you start to walk on the way, the way appears". That makes sense to me.

Can you tell us about your current roles, most and least interesting parts?

Having run my own practice and two NGOs for decades, I have now stepped back from management and have what has been called a portfolio career.  Everything I'm doing is something that I'm interested in and so I'm lucky enough not to have uninteresting work! Half my time is spent as the online safety co-ordinator with the Children's Rights Alliance. We work to ensure that children and young people can access digital products and systems that are safe by design (like all other products sold in the EU) , that we control the tech, rather than it controlling us, and that child sexual abuse and exploitation is banned from digital platforms, with those who engage in it held to account. Apart from that, I have a number of Board and advisory roles which are absorbing and fascinating and allow me to give back some of what I've learned over a long period of activism on justice and human rights issues.

What is the one thing you wish someone told you when you were at the early stage of your career?

That it's OK to say I don't know. I'm sure I was told, but didn't listen. It was a great relief when I worked it out after a few years in practice - you don't have to know everything. Indeed, you will never know everything. It's OK to say that.

What is the best career advice you have ever received and did you follow it?

It was life advice rather than career advice. My training solicitor used to say: keep learning. I hope I've done that!

Can you tell us about your current values and from whom did you learn them?

The Green definitely played a part in developing my values. There was a sense of social justice and a recognition of our privilege and the importance of giving back. My family were similarly minded and engaged with the world around them. As a young woman, I grew up in an era of Women's Liberation and feminism. That resonated too. I think my values haven't changed that much. I believe that I have been extraordinarily lucky to have been able to live in one of the richest countries in the world, with limited discrimination based on my gender, but so lucky in so many other ways. I like the Irish understanding and value of respect - which speaks to the dignity of every person. I see that women and girls have advanced a lot in the last one hundred years, but that our societal structures are still privileged male by default.  And I value family and friendship, good humour and good fun.

Do you have any role models/people you look up to or aspire to be like?

Yes. Lots and lots of my family, friends, and co-workers!  I'll be like them when I grow up!

What skills do you think will be most important in the future work environment?

I'm not sure about skills. What I do think is that the future work environment will need to ensure that the mega-rich, transnational, profit-driven tech industry which acts with minimal regard for the rights of its users is reined in, with boundaries, like any other industry. This means that all of us need to have serious discussions about how much we kow-tow to the industry's wealth and power, and how much we actually value our own society and the people in it.

If you could come back to the school and do one thing for one hour, what would it be?

I love that Politics and Society is now a Leaving Cert subject, and that children's rights online came up in this year's paper! But if I had an hour, I'd like to do a workshop with students about why their human rights and those of others are so relevant and important. That human rights framework has served me well as guidance.

What’s next for you?

I don't know. I've been known to quote Robert Grave's poem Flying Crooked in answer to this question. The poem talks of a cabbage moth which 'lurches here and here by guess/ and God and hope and hopelessness' - and goes on to say 'Even the acrobatic swift/ has not his flying crooked gift'. I'll continue to lurch and call it a flying crooked gift!  

If you know someone who should be featured in a past pupil spotlight please contact headofdevelopment@loretothegreen.ie