Our Board
Cathleen Hartnett
Chairperson of the Board of Trustees
Cathleen is the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, a director and Company Secretary of HopeSpace CLG. Cathleen is a quality consultant and has many years of experience in the community voluntary sector at both the governance level and as a volunteer.
She has personal experience of bereavement as a young person and her commitment to HopeSpace is motivated by knowing that she would have benefited by having access to such a service. Cathleen lives in Salthill and is mother to two young adult children.
Breda Fallon
Breda is a member of the Board of Trustees, and a Company Director.
She qualified from Mary Immaculate College of Education in 1982 and has spent the last forty years teaching in a Deis Band 1 school on the outskirts of Galway City. She has taught all class groups including teaching for ten years as a Special Educational Teacher where she gained experience working on a one-to-one level with children who had individual care needs.
She initially became interested in the area of children and loss after her husband, Pat, died in March 2018. As a mother of three children, she realised that she knew little about how to support her own children on their grief journey and subsequently started attending online courses with the Irish Children’s Bereavement Network to broaden her knowledge and understanding of childhood bereavement. As a teacher, she also became very curious about how she could support the grieving child when they returned to school.
This journey led her to a part-time postgraduate course called the Professional Certificate in Children and Loss, Level 9. This course is organised by the IHF and the RCSI. It aims to equip people who work with children/adolescents with the skills to understand and support them when grieving.
It is her hope that because of HopeSpace the grieving child will receive the support and attention they deserve and that they will no longer be the forgotten mourners.
Declan Farrell
Throughout his career, initially in banking, but primarily in the hospitality industry, he has been involved with a number of charities and youth organisations. He has served on various committees which have raised substantial funds for charitable endeavours.
He is committed to providing children and teens with a warm, welcoming, non judgemental place where they can share their thoughts and concerns around grief and help them to understand that they are not alone.
Kathleen Hurley
Kathleen is a member of the Board of Trustees of HopeSpace CLG and is the Donor Care Coordinator and a Designated Liaison person for Child Protection.
A qualified Primary School teacher with 40 years experience teaching children, including children with special educational needs, in Ireland, England and Canada.
Kathleen has served as a member of her local school Board of Management and Parents’ Association. She has been a committee member of her local Residents Association and Active Retirement Association and has volunteered with SVP.
Kathleen’s personal life experience in loss and grief has instilled in her a commitment to help children in their grief journey, through the services of HopeSpace CLG
Kathleen, now retired from teaching, lives in Galway City and has two adult children.
Pauline Joyce
Pauline is a Member of the Board of Trustees and a Director of HopeSpace CLG. Pauline has served on the Philanthropy Core Team of a major Corporation for several years where she was involved in designing and integrating process flows where required.
She was also a very active volunteer within her local parish in providing services for young people and was part of a team who provided the young people of the parish with their own specially designed dedicated space for them to gather.
Her commitment to HopeSpace is motivated by a willingness to develop a service that will help support children and their parents during difficult times. Pauline lives in Barna and is mother to two adult children.
Tony Lundon
Dr Anthony (Tony) Lundon qualified as a medical Doctor in University College Galway in 1975. He has practiced as a Family Doctor in Galway City from July 1978 to present time.
Through his work and personal life, he is acutely aware of the lack of structured support in our health service for children and teenagers whose lives have been shattered by the loss of a loved one, and the overwhelming grief enforced upon them by such a tragic event in their young lives.
Kay O’Dwyer
Kay is a Member of the Board of Trustees, a director and Treasurer of HopeSpace CLG.
A Chartered Accountant with years of experience in compliance, governance and practice, Kay is also a volunteer with other charities and has served as a member of her local school Board of Management for several years.
Her commitment to HopeSpace CLG is motivated by knowing that supporting children during their loss will have a lifelong impact on their lives.
Kay, now retired from accountancy practice, lives in Galway City and has two adult children.
Cathriona O’Flaherty
As the managing director of O’Flaherty Funeral Directors in Galway City and County, Cathriona works within the business as part of a team to provide the best service possible to the bereaved. Her role within the business is to meet with people who find themselves in an unfamiliar and sometimes unexpected situation and provide all the necessary relevant information which they need at that time allowing them to make informed decisions. She is also involved in all funeral preparations.
As a past President of the Irish Association of Funeral Directors she is proud to have been part of the development of the association's program to encourage ‘Best Practice Standards’ within the organization.
With her many years of experience assisting bereaved families in Galway and prior to that in Dublin, Cathriona looks forward to giving her full support to HopeSpace.