New appointments to the board of the National Disability Authority have been announced just in time for the holidays when few will be noticing.

Appointments to the Board of the National Disability Authority

In  exercise  of the powers conferred on the Minister for Justice, Equality
and  Law  Reform  by  the  National  Disability  Authority Act 1999 and the
Disability Act 2005, the following named persons have been appointed to the
Board  of  the  National  Disability  Authority  with  effect from the 21st
December 2009:

Mr. Peter McKevitt, Chairman [Rehab Group Senior Manager]

Dr. Tony Bates [CEO of Head Strong]
Ms. Caroline Burrell [Green Party]
Mr. Frank Cunneen [previously chaired the Health and Safety Authority]
Ms. Tara Cunningham [Release Speech Therapy Organisation]
Mr. Colm Desmond [Principal Officer – Dept of Health]
Ms. Fiona Duignan [Policy and Projects Manager Inclusion Ireland]
Ms. Linda Grealy [Civil Servant – Representing Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform]
Mr. Shane Hogan [NDA Staff reprepsentative]
Mr. David Joyce [Equality Officer ICTU]
Mr. Des Kenny [CEO NCBI]
Ms. Mary Lavelle [Head of Counselling, Insight Counselling Centre, Fighting Blindness]
Ms. Joanne McCarthy [Senior Policy Executive, DFI]

The  term  of  office  of  the Members of the Board will run for four years
until 20th December, 2013.

The  National  Disability  Authority is the lead state agency on disability
issues  and  is  charged with promoting and helping to secure the rights of
persons  with  disabilities.  The  Authority plays a vital role in advising
Government  on  disability  policy,  research and standards and ensures the
continued monitoring of implementation of standards and services.

The parts in brackets have been added by me – anyone who has other knowledge of the backgrounds of other board members are free to leave comments. It should be added that members will probably be serving in a personal capacity rather than representing any particular grouping.