Perspectives on Peace: Panel Event

Dominic MacSorley, Humanitarian Ambassador, Concern Worldwide
Dominic has over four decades of experience leading Concern’s humanitarian responses to some of the world’s most devastating humanitarian emergencies including Darfur, Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Iraq. He recently served as Concern Interim Country Director for Sudan and Haiti

In January 2023, Dominic was appointed Humanitarian Ambassador for Concern Worldwide US responsible for senior level engagement with key donors and policy makers and at the United Nations in New York.

Prior to this appointment, Dominic served for ten years as the Chief Executive Officer for Concern Worldwide during which time he sat on the senior level UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee and was Chair of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence. He served on the board of the US funded Global Executive Leadership Initiative and has received several awards to recognise his contribution to international humanitarianism. As an experienced humanitarian, Dominic remains passionately committed to social justice and the end to global hunger and poverty.

Monica McWilliams was a participant in the multi-party negotiations leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and represented the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition – which she co-founded – in the first Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. As Chief Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission, she drafted the advice on a Bill of Rights and now serves on the Independent Reporting Commission for the disbandment of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. She is a Patron of WAVE, the trauma centre for victims and survivors of the Troubles and works with peace builders in Syria, Colombia, the Middle East, Ukraine and West Africa. She is Emeritus Professor in the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Her memoir ‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ charts her activism on civil rights and women’s rights in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair, Concern Worldwide
With a background in community development and child protection, Réiseal has worked on international development for over 25 years in a variety of management and advisory roles. She has worked with Concern Worldwide in Rwanda, Albania, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya and Somalia; Save the Children in Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone; the Somalia NGO Consortium, and with Trócaire in Ireland.

Reiseal has worked with Concern in Ireland since 2018 as Head of International Advocacy managing Concern’s global advocacy work, and overseeing the Global Citizenship programme in Ireland. She is currently the interim Director of Strategy, Advocacy and Learning.

Réiseal has served as a board member at International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) from 2021 to 2024, and as a member of the UN Security Council Stakeholder Forum (2022-23) at the Institute for International Economic Affairs (IIEA). She served on Ireland’s Oversight Group for Women, Peace and Security 2015-18; represented international non-governmental organisations on the Global Pooled Fund Working Group 2017-18; and was a member of the Steering Committee for Ireland’s engagement in the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in 2014-15.

Brian Maguire lives and works in Dublin and Paris. Brian Maguire’s painting practice is driven by the struggle against inequality and violence, and the pursuit of justice. His process is foremost an act of solidarity, rehumanising his subjects and recentring the narratives of the disenfranchised. Social engagement plays a central role, leading him to work closely and interactively with refugees, survivors of warzones, incarcerated peoples, and local newsrooms in locations including Sudan, Syria, São Paulo and Ciudad Juárez. Recent solo exhibitions include Social Forms: Art as Global Citizenship, Converge 45, Portland (2023); law of the land, Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen, Norway (2023); The Clock Winds Down, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2023); In The Light Of Conscience, Missoula Art Museum, Montana (2022); North and South of the Border, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (2022); Remains, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland (2021); An Anatomy of Politics, Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris (2021).

Jude Lal Fernando is Associate Professor at the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin and the Director of Irish School of Ecumenics. He was former Director of Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice, and the author of many publications on liberationist and interfaith perspectives on the interplay of religion, conflict and peace. He has served as the visiting professor in Sophia and Ritsumeikan universities in Japan, Uppsala University in Sweden, Tampere University in Finland, Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan, Salzburg University in Austria and Global Theological Institute, Yonsei University, Korea.

He is the coordinator of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka ( Dublin-2010, Bremen-2013 and Berlin-2022) and has been living in exile in Ireland nearly for 20 years due to his opposition to the war against the Tamils in Sri Lanka and ongoing human rights violations against all communities. Prior to his arrival in Ireland he was the director of the Justice and Peace Desk of Tulana, the Centre for Interreligious Dialogue and Research in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (1989-2004), and engaged in social movements for justice and peace.