Our People

Board of Directors

The CBM Ireland Board oversees all aspects of the organisation including governance and finance and all members serve in a voluntary capacity.

Eoin McManus - Chairperson

Eoin McManus is a Senior Policy Specialist in the Markets Policy Division at the Central Bank of Ireland.   He is a solicitor and prior to working at the Central Bank he worked in private practice advising on the legal and regulatory obligations of regulated financial services providers. Eoin began his career as an intern with the European Commission and then as a researcher at the Law Reform Commission of Ireland.  He is a graduate of NUI Galway (BA, LLB) and University College London (LLM).

Vivienne Brennan

Vivienne has recently returned from Tanzania, having spent the last few years working in the non-profit sector. She has considerable experience working both in non-profit and corporate sectors. Her professional career with Bank of Ireland spanned 30 years, where she held management positions in Retail and Business Banking, working in Administration, Operations and Communications functions.

Vivienne has worked in Overseas Development for over 12 years, working with Concern Worldwide in Emergency Relief, also spent a period as a VMM volunteer, and worked with other non profit organisations in Community Development Programmes. Previous volunteering experience in Ireland include, the Special Olympics and the Bank of Ireland Staff Third World Fund Committee.

Ciara Cribben

Ciara is an international development expert with over 12 years of experience in the non-profit sector supporting initiatives globally in the areas of emergency response, capacity-building, education, gender-based violence, sport development, economic development and disability inclusion, among others. Ciara has expertise in impact monitoring, results-based management, theory of change, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and data analysis, which she applies to programme design, results monitoring and strategic planning.

She currently serves as a Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist for the International Paralympic Committee, where she is leading on strategy development and creating a culture of impact and evidence-based decision-making.

Mark Finan

Mark Finan completed his LLB in Trinity College Dublin, LLM in International Business Law in Leiden University and MA in Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in Dublin City University in 2018. Having completed his B.L. Degree in the Kings Inns in 2005, he has been practicing as a barrister-at-law with particular expertise in regulatory compliance, administrative law and related commercial matters.  Mark is also a consultant for a number of businesses on Corporate Governance and compliance.  

Mark has numerous years experience as a corporate non-executive director and was appointed to be Chairperson of an International Charity focused on advocacy for the world's poorest in 2017.  Mark first became a Board member of CBM in 2016.  He is also a keen Bridge player.

James O’Dowd

James is Director of Government Affairs with Transatlantic Public Affairs. He provides regular reporting and analysis on EU legislative developments, the EU Financial and Sovereign Debt Crisis and also assists US multinationals and private equity funds with the planning and execution of their investment and corporate affairs strategies in Ireland and the European Union.

James previously worked in the European Parliament as a political adviser to Vice-Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Geoffrey Van Orden MEP who was also Defence Spokesman. Before working at the European Parliament James interned at IHS Jane’s Country Risk Desk, AKE Intelligence Risk Solutions and the Center for Global Development in Washington D.C. James graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a first class honours degree in History and Political Science. He obtained an MA in International Peace & Security jointly from the Department of War Studies and the School of Law at King’s College London.

Linda Ryan

Linda Ryan is a senior executive with over 40 years successful track record of managing teams in budget and financial management, human resource management, change management and general operations support predominantly in international organisations, notably the United Nations. Her experience, reaching Director level, was gained operating in complex and challenging environments across the world.

 Linda’s latest academic achievement is from the University of Birmingham, an MSc in Public Administration and Development - focusing on leadership and governance complementing an accounting and business studies education at the tertiary level.

David Dalton

After working in the commercial sector in IT and the hotel industry, David worked in Ethiopia with GOAL as Assistant Country Director in the mid-90s and later headed the organisation’s Human Resources department overseeing a staff of over 1,500 employees.

David then took on the role of CEO of Plan Ireland, an international children’s organisation and part of the Plan international federation. He grew the organisation substantially and became a member of Plan’s Global Leadership Team.

After close to ten years with Plan David then joined Self Help Africa as Executive Director responsible for day-to-day operations and management of the organisation. David left in 2023 and now works as a consultant.

David holds a Business Degree from the University of Galway as well as a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from University College Dublin. He is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD). He has also served as a board member of NGOs Dóchas, Comhlámh and the Irish Emergency Alliance.

Claire Kenny

Claire Kenny is a Policy Assistant at ILMI (Independent Living Movement Ireland) and has worked with ILMI since January 2021. Her role involves working on various projects and research such as ILMI’s housing network. In 2018 Claire graduated with a B.Sc. honours degree in Applied Biology and Biopharmaceutical Science from GMIT. As a very proud Disabled woman who faced some of the barriers encountered by many disabled people Claire finds it very rewarding and fulfilling to work for an organisation who embraces the social model of disability and be a part of such a dynamic hard-working team. Claire believes it is fundamentally important that disabled people are involved in a meaningful, authentic way in all facets of society with our contributions valued and our rights respected and looks forward to helping make this happen in international development as well as a Director of CBM Ireland.

CBM Ireland staff

CBM Ireland has a small, hardworking team here in Dublin. We are dedicated to helping people affected by the double-disadvantage of poverty and disability. Poverty and disability go hand-in-hand, making people with disability among the poorest in the world, and far more likely to be isolated, experience inequality. The CBM approach focuses on ensuring that no one is left behind and that the most vulnerable are included in both long-term development and disaster relief work. We address poverty both as a cause and a consequence of disability along with other members of the CBM Global Federation, and in partnership with local Organisations of Persons with Disabilities.

Our team includes Fundraising, Finance, Advocacy and Programme departments.

Dualta Roughneen - CEO CBM Ireland

Dualta joined CBM Ireland in August 2023 as CEO after almost 20 years working with a number of international NGOs in Ireland and abroad.

A Civil Engineer originally, having graduated from UCG in 2001, and working as an engineer on the roads for a few years, he completed a Masters in Human Rights in UCD in 2009.

Dualta has worked as an engineer in humanitarian and development programmes in Ethiopia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan and Liberia before joining Plan International Ireland in 2009 initially as Emergencies Coordinator leading crisis responses in Ethiopia, Cameroon, the Philippines, Nepal, Sierra Leone, CAR and the Sahel. He became Plan International Ireland’s Head of Programmes in 2016 until his appointment as CEO of CBM Ireland in 2023.

As a new father, Dualta has limited spare time outside work anymore, but hopes to continue to run marathons.

A keen writer, he has written a number of books: “North Korea: On the Inside Looking In” (2014), “The Right to Roam: Travellers and Human Rights in the Modern Nation State” (2010), “Humanitarian Subsidiarity: A New Principle?” (2017), “The Pope and the World: The Thoughts of Pope Benedict XVI” (2021).

Dr Mary Keogh - Director of Advocacy (CBM Global)

Mary has been involved with CBM for 10 years in a number of capacities including working as a voluntary board member for CBM International and CBM Ireland, and as an advocacy, technical, and programme advisor, before being appointed Director of Disability Inclusive Development for CBM International in 2018. She is now currently the Advocacy Director with CBM Global Disability Inclusion.

Prior to working with CBM, Mary worked with the International Disability Rights Monitor (IDRM), as coordinator of the IDRM European regional report.  She has also written reports for the UN on inclusive development and most recently contributed to the development of the UN CRPD committee general comment on women and girls with disabilities. Mary has authored a publication on: How to make international development disability inclusive, and is a co-author of Inclusion Counts - The Economic Case for Disability-Inclusive Development.

She completed her PhD in 2014 at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUIG, where her research focused on mainstreaming disability in international aid. She also holds a Masters in International Development, an M.Sc. in Rehabilitation management and a BA in Economics.