Minister Catherine Martin announces appointment of 2 new members, and a reappointment, to the Board of the Arts Council

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, today announced the appointment of two new members, and reappointment of one, to the Board of the Arts Council:

• Rosaleen McDonagh
• Noyona Chundur
• Jillian Van Turnhout (Reappointment)

The appointments will be for 5 years and follow from an open call for expressions of interest and an assessment process operated by the Public Appointments Service.

Commenting on the appointments, Minister Martin said:

Rosaleen McDonagh

Rosaleen McDonagh is a Traveller woman with a disability originally from Sligo. She previously worked in Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre managing the Violence Against Women programme, and remains a board member. Rosaleen has a BA in Biblical & Theological Studies, an MPhil in Ethnic & Racial Studies and an MPhil in Creative Writing, all from Trinity College Dublin, and a PhD from Northumbria University. She is a regular contributor to the Irish Times, writing primarily within the framework of a Traveller feminist perspective. Rosaleen’s work includes Mainstream, The Baby Doll Project, Stuck, She’s Not Mine, Walls and Windows, Rings and Contentious Spaces. Rosaleen was appointed to The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in May 2020, where she is the chair of the Disability Advisory Committee.

In 2018, Fishamble produced Rosaleen’s play Running Out of Road in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, to mark the first anniversary of Traveller Ethnicity recognition. Rosaleen was writer in residence with Tuti Theatre Company in Adelaide, Australia in 2019.

Rosaleen is currently under Commission from the Abbey Theatre, she is writing an adaptation of Ibsen’s Dolls House. Rosaleen is also working on two books for Skein Press. The first, a collection of short stories entitled “Contentious Spaces”. Her third book “Bearings a Letter to Amy & Rosie Bridget”, is a letter to a young Traveller woman and a letter to a young Disabled woman.

Noyona Chundur

Noyona Chundur is Chief Executive of the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, having previously served as a Board Member and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Chair. She delivers Northern Ireland’s regulatory environment for consumer protection, with super-complaints designation and statutory responsibilities in energy, transport, water and sewerage, postal services and food accessibility, and a brief for financial inclusion and EU Exit matters.

Noyona is also non-executive Director for the Progressive Building Society and a Council Member for the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She is a Chartered Director through the Institute of Directors and won Public Sector Director of the Year at the 2023 Institute of Director Awards.

Noyona is the former Chair of one of Northern Ireland’s leading arts festivals, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, a catalyst for growing its cultural landscape and the regeneration of Belfast’s cultural centre, the Cathedral Quarter, through investment in the arts and tourism.

Prior to joining the Consumer Council as Chief Executive in January 2021, Noyona spent 16 years in economic development, and has won multiple internationally recognised awards for marketing and digital innovation.

Jillian Van Turnhout

Jillian van Turnhout has successfully held a variety of leadership roles in Ireland and the EU across business, public affairs and voluntary sectors. Jillian van Turnhout is a consultant providing governance advice to companies and not-for-profit organisations.

Her governance expertise emanates from over twenty-five years serving and chairing Boards along with her recognised accreditation as a Chartered Director (CDir), and the INSEAD International Directors Programme (IDP-C). Jillian is currently working towards accreditation as a Genealogist.

In addition to the Arts Council, her current Board work includes the Private Securities Authority and as Trustee (Director) of One in Four Ireland. She is a former independent Senator, former Vice President of the EU Advisory body, the European Economic and Social Committee; former Vice-Chair, European Movement Ireland, former Chair, Early Childhood Ireland; former Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance; former Chief Commissioner of the Irish Girl Guides; and former President of the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Jillian is a co-founder of the European Youth Forum. Jillian has been awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite by the President of France and an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.