Catherine Byrne - Secretariat

Catherine Byrne is an experienced teacher, trade union leader, advisor, negotiator and mediator, with a life-long commitment to education, human rights, social justice and the arts. She was deputy general secretary of the INTO and worked in Brussels for the European Trade Union Confederation. She went on to become a Senior Policy Advisor in Ireland for The Atlantic Philanthropies where Chuck Feeney invested heavily in health, human rights, social and education projects in this country. She studied at Carysfort College of Education (primary teaching), Sheffield University (Master’s in Education), the IPA (mediation) and the renowned Lee Strasberg Institute (theatre and film) in New York City. Catherine has served on the boards of the Abbey Theatre, THE ARK, the NCCA, Oxfam Ireland, DICE and VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) and chaired organisations dealing with the arts, primary teaching in Cambodia (SBBI), development and cultural education and as well as the Rutland School board of management. She is an Associate at the Burren College of Art.