Board Members

 

Gerard Weldon, Chairperson of Meath Partnership 

Community and Voluntary Sector

Gerard resides at Starinagh, Collon, Co. Meath with his wife, son and daughter. A Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at DKIT for over 31 years, Gerard is the chairperson of Broomfield and District Residents Association and a founder member of the Association with over 22 years unbroken service. The Associations greatest achievement to date has been the provision of Teach Raithneach Heritage and Cultural Centre at Starinagh, Collon, Co. Meath. Gerard was elected Chairman of the Board of Meath Partnership in 2008, a position he still retains. He is also a member of Meath County Development Board. As a result of Gerard’s experience in community development at local and county level, he is ideally placed to contribute to the further development of Meath Partnership and the many challenges that lie ahead.  

 

Mary Lydon, Treasurer of Meath Partnership

Tourism Sector Representative

Mary Lydon is no stranger to rural development in the Trim area as she is heavily involved in various tourist and local organisations.  A former director on the Boards of the East Coast & Midland Tourism and Meath Tourism, she is also one of the founding members of Trim Tourism Group and Rathcairn Set Dancing Club.  Mary is also the Chairperson of Kiltale Enhancement Group and is a Trim No Name Club committee member.  Mary’s enthusiasm for the tourism sector has encouraged her to participate in numerous LEADER funded tourism courses including Certificate in Marketing for Small Tourism Enterprises, Certificate in Irish Home Hospitality and Agri Business Diversification course. Mary was instrumental in the development of the Trim Tourism Group which successfully produces the Trim Tourism Brochure with the help of LEADER funding. 

 

Eamon Cassells, Macra na Feirme

Eamon Cassells is the Macra Na Feirme representative on the board. Eamon hails from Athboy where he is strongly involved with his local Macra club having held the posts of Chairman and Treasurer of the club in the past. He is currently the county development officer for the organisation. Eamon has a keen interest in ‘ultimate frisbee’ and has competed in tournaments both domestically and overseas. He is the captain of his local club and is the national press secretary for the governing body of the sport, the IFDA.
Eamon works as a lab technician for the National Cattle Breading Centre.

 

 

Cllr. Eugene Cassidy, Meath County Council

Eugene is a Fine Gael councillor and is currently serving his second term as a member of Meath County Council.  Eugene hails from Nobber, Co. Meath and is a full time farmer.  He is very active in the community and is particularly interested in rural issues.  He is an anti-pylon campaigner, a member of R.I.S.E and a member of N.E.A.I. (North East Against Incineration) and also a member of Nobber Vintage Club. He has recently become a board member of County Meath VEC.

 

 

Annette Clinton, Dept of Social and Family Affairs

Annette represents the Department of Social and Family Affairs on the Board, she is the Area Manager for Drogheda and part of Co. Meath with the responsibility for the delivery of Social Welfare service in the area.  Annette serves as a Member of Meath CDB and previously represented DSFA on Meath County Childcare Committee as well as the Regional Planning and Community Violence against Women.  Formerly Annette was a member of Drogheda Partnership Services for Unemployed and she served on the Management committee of Drogheda Local Employment Service for a number of years.  She is married to Declan and has two teenage daughters.   Annette enjoys travel, reading & walking (the dog).  Annette finds her role as board member of Meath Partnership very fulfilling.

 

 

Margaret Cranney, FÁS.

Margaret was born and reared in Moynalty which is renowned for its strong tradition of volunteerism and community development and she now resides nearby in Carlanstown.  She has worked for FAS since its inception in 1988 in a number of different divisions and has been located through her work with FÁS in Cavan, Navan and Dundalk. Whilst located in Cavan and Navan Margaret was heavily involved with community groups supporting and advising them in the development of community based services. She is now currently the Manager of Training Services for the North East Region which includes the FAS Training Centre in Dundalk at which she is now based.

 

 

Christy Duffy, Co. Meath VEC

Christy is currently the Adult Education Officer with Co. Meath VEC. He has a background in economics, with a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. He worked for a number of years on the funding of non-profit organisations and was involved in research on the public funding of arts organisations in Ireland. He also has extensive experience in working with community groups and community education.  As Adult Education Officer Christy has responsibility for planning, development and integration of further education programmes within Co. Meath VEC. This includes the management of six Youthreach centres in Co. Meath offering full time training opportunities for almost 200 young people.  Christy has been involved in a range of special programmes over the past number of years including many interagency initiatives. These include the WINNER programme, the WELCOME project, and for Meath Partnership led projects such as the MITE project, Cultur, GuideMe and Silent Knowledge.  

 

 

Cllr. Oliver Fox, Meath County Council

Oliver joined the Board of Meath Partnership in December 2009 and represents the Kells Electoral Area on Meath County Council. He has lived all his life in Oldcastle from where he has managed his electrical business ‘Oldcastle Electrical’ for over 35 years.  He is married to Ann and has one son, Lorcan.  Oliver is heavily involved in community development and is a member of Oldcastle Area Development, Oldcastle Tidy Towns and Oldcastle Parish Committee to name but a few!  He is a former Chairperson of the Boards of Management of the Gilson School and St. Oliver’s Post Primary School.     

 

 

Cllr. Anton McCabe,  Navan Town Council

Anton is a labour councillor and is currently a member of Navan Town Council. He is married to Margaret and has 3 sons and 2 daughters.  He is President of the Meath Branch of SIPTU and is also a Member of SIPTU's Regional Executive.  He is very passionate about issues of exploitation in the workplace and social inclusion. Anton is a Qualified Lay Tutor and an Accredited Mediator with the Mediator Institute of Ireland.(M.I.I) and  he is a  Winner of two National Diversity awards for work with economic migrants.

 

 

Benny Keogan, TEAGASC

From Munterconnaught near Virginia, Benny has long been involved with organisations such as the GAA and Macra na Feirme, and has been a member of the Parent’s Committee of the local national school at Rathfeigh, Tara. His official title in Teagasc is that of Dairy Advisor. In reality, however, he is widely involved with helping farming families across the county work through their options regarding succession and inheritance, as well as assisting in farm planning (including the adoption of alternative enterprises) and financial management. Benny has a high level of involvement with farmer discussion groups and is instrumental in organising and adjudicating at various stock and feed related seminars and competitions.

 

 

 

 

Kevin Stewart – Meath County Council Representative

Kevin Stewart is Director of Economic Development & Innovation and Director of Corporate Services with Meath County Council and is responsible for the development and delivery of the Council’s Economic Development and Tourism initiatives. He has worked for the Council since 1981 and has previously served as Director of Planning & Development and as Director of Housing. He is a Board Member of the Navan Enterprise Centre Company and an advisor to the Board of East Border Region. Kevin is also Town Manager for Kells since mid 2010 and previously served for 5 years as Trim Town Manager. He is a native of north Meath (Moynalty area) and now lives in Navan.  In his spare time he plays golf at Headfort and is a long suffering West Ham fan.

 

 

Kit Lee, Ballinacree Community Association

Kit has been actively involved with voluntary organisations for many years, primarily with the IFA. He acted as chairperson and secretary of the Ballinacree Branch and as a delegate to the Meath County Executive. Kit represented Meath on the National Rural Development Committee of the IFA for four years. Kit is now chairperson of the Ballinacree Community Association and has been the driving force behind the recent renovation of the community centre securing funding from LEADER and the CLAR initiative. Kit lobbied successfully for a rural transport service for Ballinacree and continues to work tirelessly for the development of the local area. Kit’s future ambition for local development in Ballinacree is the continued enhancement of the area through the development of footpaths, lighting and signage throughout the local village. Kit believes his local and national level experience in rural development and fundraising for local communities will be a valuable asset to the Meath Partnership Board. 

 

 

Cllr. Tracey McElhinney, Meath County Council

Ballivor native Tracey McElhinney was elected to Meath County Council for the first time in 2009.  She became a Board Member with Meath Partnership in December 2009 She is married to George McElhinney has two sons and has lived in Ballivor for the last 36 years. Tracy is also a former employee of NEC semi conductors Ireland having worked for the company for over 12 years and was a shop steward. Following her redundancy in 2006, Tracy set up the employment lobby group Next Era Calling with former colleagues and local community members, she is the current Chairperson of this Organisation as well as being the Public Relations Officer for the Ballivor Community Council and the Ballivor Horse Show.

 

 

Michael O’Keeffe, St Vincent de Paul Society

Michael is married to Annemarie with three children. Principally a farmer by occupation, Michael's interests include hill walking, reading and GAA. He also enjoys being involved in voluntary organisations that are actively concerned with getting things done, particularly the St. Vincent De Paul Society of which he is Regional President. Michael was vice-chairperson and treasurer of his local Parish Finance Committee which raised €1.5 million to refurbish two churches in the local parish. He returned as Chairperson of the Kilskyre School Board of Management which installed a new parking area at the school, new play area, new children’s shelter, and computers. Previously, Michael was Chairperson of Crossakiel/ Clonmellon Rural Broadband Scheme, Chairperson of Kilskyre IFA, and is currently Chairperson of the Ballinlough Community Centre Restoration Committee raising €250,000 to refurbish the Centre.

 

 

Linda Murray (nee Nelson) 

Linda is the Managing Director of Angel Marketing in Navan. Linda has worked for the past 14 years in various Marketing roles. Graduating with a degree in Business and a Postgraduate Diploma in PR Linda began her career in The Gleeson Group as Brand Manager of Tipperary Natural Mineral Water and then moved to the position of Marketing Manager to the group. From there Linda began as National Sales & Marketing Manager with Webtech NI (a leading supplier of labels to the soft drinks and bottled water industry). Relying on her extensive experience and through a demand to help small businesses market themselves, Linda set up Angel Marketing in 2007. Linda has numerous small to medium sized businesses on her books and thoroughly enjoys the diversity of the various businesses that she caters to. Linda is also PRO for Navan Chamber of Commerce, Co-Ordinator of BNI Solstice Navan, an active member of the Mullaghboy Business Residents association and Navan’s Retail Strategy 2011-2012. Linda would very much like to see strong ‘shop local’ campaign’s throughout the towns of Meath encouraging shoppers not to leave their towns to purchase but to support jobs and community involvement on their door steps.

 

 

 

Michael O’Brien

Michael has been actively involved with voluntary organisations for many years, primarily with the South Meath Forum, South Meath Social Economy and on the Board of Directors with Tide. Michael was one of the founding members of the Meath Community Drug & Alcohol Response (Formerly South Meath Response Project). Michael was also involved in forming a committee to build a new Community Centre in Boardsmill. Michael is married to Mary and has two adult sons and two adult daughters and runs his own business in the Agri and Construction machinery spares.

 

 

Kevin Sheridan, Artisan Foods of Meath Network. 

Kevin is married to Rachel and has one son Freddie.  He is a founder and Managing Director of Sheridan’s Cheesemongers Ltd.   Sheridan’s Cheesemongers have their warehouse and offices at Pottlereagh, Carnaross, Co. Meath. Kevin has recently become chairperson of the Meath Artisan Food Group and he is also a member of the Taste Council of Ireland, an industry group set up to advise Bord Bia on strategy for the development of the speciality food industry. Kevin is also an active member of Slow Food Ireland.

 

 

Cathrine Schirmer, Environmental Sector

Cathrine is currently employed as Biodiversity Policy Coordinator of the Irish Environmental Network. In this position, she works daily with a large number of environmental NGOs, which coupled with a master degree in Environment, Development and Policy has provided her with an in depth knowledge of current environmental, agricultural and rural development issues. This knowledge and experience is invaluable to Meath Partnership given the LEADER Programmes strong focus on environmental enhancement and protection.