Reappointment of Professor Patricia Barker and the appointment of Mr John Hennessy to the Tallaght Hospital Board

On her nomination by the President of the hospital, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD, has reappointed the following as a member of the Tallaght Hospital Board for a period of three years with effect from 2 March 2020:

Professor Patricia Barker

Prof Barker is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and qualified in 1973. Prof Barker completed an MPhil in Gender Studies in Trinity College Dublin. Her PhD developed a paradigm of disclosure of financial information to employees in organisations. She served her articles with Stokes Bros. and Pim in Dublin and worked for Peat Marwick Mitchell in Manchester. She later became a partner in an accounting practice in Manchester for six years and worked in Manchester University as a principal lecturer.

Patricia was appointed lecturer in Dublin City University (DCU) in 1980 and progressed through senior lecturer, Associate Dean (Business School) and University Vice-President (Academic). She has worked as a visiting professor in universities in New York, Boston, Angers, Malawi, Dares Salaam, Sydney and Cape Town and has been an external examiner for universities and professional bodies.

She served as Chairman of the Chartered Accountants' Accounting Committee for twenty years and was a member of the Council of Chartered Accountants for four years in the 1990s and again for five years in the 2010s. She represented Ireland on the Accounting Standards Board in London for nine years and chaired the expert group reporting to the European Union on the role, structure and functions of the European Court of Auditors. She had several tours of duty as Election Supervisor for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Ireland (OSCE) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Republica Serpska, South Africa, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Malawi and Belarus.

Patricia worked as a Human Rights Monitor in Israel and Palestine. She has been a member of the Boards of Women’s Aid, the Sonas Housing Association, the National Chamber Choir and the Higher Education Authority (chairing the Audit Committee) and was Chairperson of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service for three years.

She is currently a Director of Dublin Bus Ltd. and Tallaght Hospital chairing their Audit Committees. In addition, she is Chair of the Education Board of Chartered Accountants Ireland. She is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Marine Institute. She is currently a voluntary counsellor and trainer for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

She has written books on group accounting, flexible working in the profession and more recently on women who have succeeded in the accountancy profession, as well as on corporate governance and professional ethics.

On his nomination by the Health Service Executive, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD, has appointed the following as a member of the Tallaght Hospital Board for a period of three years with effect from 2 March 2020:

Mr John Hennessy

Mr Hennessy has been Chairman of the Board of Ericsson Ireland, Higher

Education Authority, Killarney Telecommunications Limited, Screen Producers Ireland, several Dublin acute hospitals and has spent more than 40 years' experience in the telecommunication industry, holding senior International positions across Swedish multi-national Telecommunication's Company, Ericsson.

John was Managing Director of Ericsson Ireland from 2003 to 2011 and board member and Chairperson from 2003 to 2013. John has been a member of various Government advisory boards and a member of the governing body of Irish Business and Employer Confederation (IBEC) between 2006 and 2014.

He was also a non-executive board member and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) from 2008 to 2016, deputy Chairman and non-executive director of Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin 2011 to 2019, Director St James's Hospital 2013 to 2016, non­executive Director Children's Hospital Group 2013 to 2016, Chairman Chartered Directors' Network 2009 to 2012, and advisor to a number of start-up companies in Ireland.

Separately, John has been a Director and Chairman of Killarney Telecoms 2011 to 2018 and Director of Screen Producers Ireland 2014 to 2017. John has also provided Consulting Services in Strategy, Change Management and Governance to various private and public sector bodies. John also provided mentoring to business start-ups and through IDA to US multinational corporation subsidiaries in Ireland.

John is an engineer and a graduate of Trinity College, NUIG, Kevin St College of Technology, University of Navarra and Columbia University. John is also a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering and a Chartered Director.