The Committee

The current committee was elected at our AGM in January 2021. Please see their details below.

 

If you would like to get in touch with a specific committee member please email [email protected] with the name and / or position of the committee member your enquiry is directed to.

Chair

Liam Conlon 

 

 

 

Vice Chairs

Deirdre Costigan

Claire Tighe

Claire Tighe is Vice Chair of Labour Party Irish Society. She was Director of Irish4Europe during the EU referendum, and is Director of Banba Communications that builds a bridge with the London Irish community and Westminster. 

Secretary

Chris Fegan

Chris Fegan has been a member of the Labour Party Irish Society for many years and is delighted to return to the LPIS Executive as Secretary once again and at a time of great import following Brexit. Chris has been a member of the Labour Party for nearly 35 years and his man hobby outside of politics is chess.

Treasurer

Liz McShane

 

Liz joined the Labour Party in 1995 and has been a member of the LPIS since 1999 and has been on the Executive Committee since 2001. Liz is originally from Bangor Co Down and moved to London when she was 18 to study Spanish at UCL. She was a Haringey councillor from 2014 - 2018.

Membership Secretary

Bridie O'Shea

 

 

Community Liaison

Muhammad Al-Hussaini

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Muhammad is a Muslim academic and imam, and Executive of the Commission for Peace in Ireland, working to defend the human rights of all minority communities by reason of ethnicity and traveller heritage, religion, disability, age, sexuality and gender across the island of Ireland – with a focus on border areas most affected by Brexit. 

He is a proud socialist and lifelong activist in the labour movement, and writes for various newspapers and LabourList on Irish and faith issues.  He is an accredited union rep for the Ireland Region of Unite the Union, and also an accredited rep and officer of the national Unite Faith Workers’ Branch, and represents Ireland on the Unite National BAEM Committee. 

Muhammad is a keen fiddle player and singer of Irish language sean-nós and, as an Officer of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Society of the Musicians of Ireland), stands deeply committed to nurturing the natural alliance between Irish arts and culture and the Irish people’s historic pursuit of social justice for all.

Trade Union Liason

Jack Phipps

 

Women's Officer

Paula Kelly

Paula has been the Women's Officer for LPIS since 2017 and is a Senior Researcher in the House of Commons for two Labour MPs. Originally from Belfast, she spent a year working in the Northern Ireland Assembly. 

LGBT Officer

Matthew Carson

Matthew is originally from Belfast but moved to London last year. He has been a member of the Labour Party since 2015, and a member of the SDLP since 2016. He is a former Chairperson of the SDLP LGBT+ group and previously worked for Claire Hanna MP. He now works as a trainee solicitor. 

Disability Officer

Sally Mulready OBE

Sally is a member of the Irish Council of State. She is one of seven appointees appointed to the Council of State in January 2012 by President Michael D. Higgins. Sally is the only President's nominee on the Council of State who does not live in Ireland. She was appointed by the President due to her many decades of work for the Irish community in Britain.

Non-Portfolio Officers

Fiona O'Farrell

Theresa Griffin

Tom McGarry 

Sinead Whelan

Honorary Presidents

Lord Roy Kennedy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baroness Margaret McDonagh