Theme: ETHICS & ETHOS: The What & Why of Everything

Every year we receive a phenomenal response to our speaker call out. Throughout the preceeing year, we also look around and extend an invitation or two to people who we feel have something special to offer. Every speaker with TEDx Dun Laoghaire commits to a collaborative coaching program, which is what we feel makes all the difference.
Given how difficult the last few years have been because of the global Covid 19 pandemic, we wanted to have speakers this year who are making a difference, each in their own unique way. Our audience will really come away inspired.

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Haigh Terrace, Moran Park
Dún Laoghaire
County Dublin, Dublin, A96 H283
Ireland

Andrea Martin

Media Lawyer

Andrea Martin spent 35 years as a lawyer, specialising in Media Law, when her life took an unanticipated turn in August 2021. In response to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021, she started lobbying to bring a group of young Afghan women to live in Ireland. Together with a group of friends and volunteers, she established a community organisation to support those young women and help them integrate into their new lives in Ireland. Andrea’s talk shares some of the insights she has gained on this journey in her talk given in Ireland at TEDx DunLaoghaire 2022.

Dr. Kathryn Mannix

Medical Writer & Retired Palliative Care Physician

Kathryn was a consultant in palliative care medicine for 20 years, working in hospices, patients’ own homes and a large teaching hospital. She took early retirement in 2016 to work for better public understanding of dying; this has included radio work, newspaper articles and a book With the End in Mind that, somewhat expectedly, became an international Best Seller, was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize and was The Times ‘Thought’ Book of the Year. Her second book, Listen, about tender communication, was published to critical acclaim in September 2021. She believes that by naming death, describing the process, and helping people to know what to expect, we can have honest, frank and helpful conversations that promote better planning of end of life care and reduce unnecessary and unhelpful medical complications of dying. Her hope is that we can de-medicalise dying, and give it back to everyone as a precious time to be lived as well as possible.

Gloria Rosen & Ron S Opatich

Playwright/Performer & American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter

Playwright/Performer Gloria Rosen and American Sign Language Interpreter Ronald S. Opatich are both Codas, (Children of Deaf Adults) who live between the worlds of Deaf and hearing. Through this talk they explore and reveal the largely hidden worlds of Deaf and Coda, and share their belief that a common language and communication is essential to strong family bonding. Pivotal to this is the incorporation of both Sign Language and written and spoken English within the home, whether it is deaf parents of hearing children or hearing parents of deaf children. With understanding, love and compassion, they share their belief that this common language and communication is what holds a family closer together, and their hopes that it will also help to bring the Deaf and Coda and hearing worlds closer together in harmony.

Karen O’Donnell

Author, Speaker, Coach

Our formative years can distort our view on life. Karen’s talk invites you to adjust your focus, check your lens and see YOU differently. Karen O’Donnell has been a coach for over 20 years and the founder of The Speaker Coach programs. A near-death experience has shaped Karen’s work in the areas of leadership, presentation, and communication skills. She believes by adjusting our focus, we can learn to communicate with more confidence and to be truly heard in the boardroom of life. Living in the beautiful county of Wicklow, Karen raises her 3 teenage children with her husband Fran. Karen's message to you - You don't have to wait until some life-altering event to view life differently.

Matt McCann

Disability Advocate & Entrepreneur

Matt lives his life with Cerebral Palsy and has always been determined to improve the world around him through his skills and experiences. Through his vision, Matt has secured awards and recognition for Access Earth. From Access Earth being awarded as an Innovative Practice at the UN Zero Project to being named the Irish independents 30 under 30 for 2018. In late 2018 Matt secured Enterprise Ireland CSF funding for Access Earth and began growing his team to bring Access Earth into its next exciting stage of development. His talk takes us into his world and where his desire to contribute has taken him with Access Earth. Matt has a background in Computer Science which has enabled him to build a strong technical foundation for Access Earth to succeed.

Siobhan MacMahon

Poet & 'Word Witch'

Siobhan Mac Mahon is an Irish Poet and ‘Word Witch’ whose poetry speaks of the return of the Sacred Feminine and of our deep connection to the earth. She has been creating magic, mayhem and mischief with her words for over twenty years, collaborating with other artists to combine poetry with music, dance and with film. Twice awarded Arts Council funding for her work, she has performed her poetry widely in the UK and Ireland and in this talk given at TEDx Dun Laoghaire, Siobhan weaves her magic to inspire us at a time we perhaps need it the most. A Hennessey New Irish Writing winner, publications include: The Irish Times, Headstuff.org, Skylight 47 and many anthologies including - Hallelujah for 50 Foot Women – Bloodaxe.

Susan Adams

Sustainability Educator

Susan Adams founded social enterprise, Education for Sustainability in 2017 as a response to the emerging decline of the natural world and to the deficit of action based environmental education in the Irish national curriculum. It is her mission to ensure that the young people are educated about the climate crisis and to equip them with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to become informed and empowered stakeholders for the future. With a background working, volunteering and studying at Dublin Zoo, she was inspired to create interactive environmental programmes for schools to focus on improving climate literacy and fostering behavioural change through community action initiatives.

Vincent Devine

Artist

Vincent Devine is an artist, researcher and storyteller. Devine investigates the subject, whether historical or living, in a forensic manner, attempting to understand their life and self holistically. With living subjects, the process is almost like therapy, and with the historical figures, Devine immerses himself in research so as to present the whole person, from all angles. These works are not just likenesses of the physical, but a deep representation of the mind, soul, and memories of a person. The works are grounded in truth and it is indeed the whole truth that Devine seeks to represent.