Trustees

Teresa is a native of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan and moved to Limerick to study where she met her husband, Michael. Teresa has five adult children and three grandchildren. Teresa worked within the Intellectual disabilities sector in Limerick and spearheaded the development of advocacy and quality of care within those services. She is one of the founder members of St. Ailbes SVP Conference where she was elected president.
Teresa took on the role of the first Area President when the East Limerick Area Conference was established. She believes that the responses of the St. Vincent De Paul Society must continue to be nuanced in line with the ever-changing needs of the less well off in our communities. Self-help, personal training and education may well become an ever-increasing focus of our organisation, as vital ways of breaking the ever-widening circles of deprivation and poverty.

Mary, originally from Dungannon, has lived in Ballymena for 40 years. She is a retired teacher and has six children and is a grandmother of eight. She joined St Vincent de Paul over 15 years ago and has vast experience in working with a range of Conferences and communities from village to town and rural. She is currently a member of her Parish Pastoral Council.

Mary is a Member of the Society’s National Safeguarding Committee and is Safeguarding Lead for the Northern Region. She is committed to ensuring that Safeguarding is highlighted in all areas of SVP’s work.

When she joined the Society, Mary experienced the warmth of the spirit of the Vincentian Family and as Regional President, Mary has a clear focus on the priorities around education, membership support, SVP shops, governance, quality visitation and social justice. She believes spirituality must be at the heart of meetings, visitations and the decisions made by SVP.

Mary Frances Behan comes from Listowel, Co. Kerry where she lives with her husband Tony. They have 3 adult children and 6 grandchildren.

Mary Frances became involved in St Vincent de Paul as a student teacher when she joined a hospital visitation conference in Drumcondra, Dublin; then as a young teacher she became a member of a rural visitation conference in Kerry. These experiences and the people she met led her to strongly value Visitation, the core work of the Society, and to deeply respect the people she visited. This, for her, is Christianity lived.

Mary Frances, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Conference in Listowel, was North Kerry Area President, then South West Regional Vice President and in September 2024 became South West (Cork and Kerry) Regional President. She sat on the National Membership Committee and the National Training, Development and Recruitment Committee, the focus of which she says is, our members, ‘’accomplishing by love what justice alone cannot do’’.

Maureen, originally from Dublin, was first introduced to the Vincent De Paul in the early 1970s when she volunteered as a Youth Leader in a club for teenage children on the northside of the city. They would have weekly gathering, playing table tennis, quiz nights etc. Every summer they took the children for a week's holiday to Kerdiffstown House.

When Maureen married in 1979, she moved out of the area and was busy working and raising two children, but she always wanted to return to volunteering. In 2002, she moved back to Dunmore in Galway where her husband was born and in 2006, she joined St. Nicholas Conference. In 2009 she was appointed Treasurer and was re-elected in 2018 and still holds that post. In 2016, Maureen was elected as Area President in the Tuam Area. She was nominated by her Conference for Regional President in 2020 and took up the position on the 2nd November 2020.

Hannah has been with St Vincent de Paul for over twelve years. She has served as Area President, in Training and Twinning. However, her first love is Home Visitation.

Her mother worked as a weaver and her father as a tuner of the loom. Both had a range of skills when combined could create fabric which provided both protection and warmth for the wearer.

Hannah finds inspiration in that parental image for SVP work.

Every member brings their own unique gifts and skills, and when shared can create a tapestry of blessings. At the heart of SVP is compassion and respect for the dignity of every person. This first finds fruition in the way Conference members treat each other, which in turn reaches into the homes of those we visit. Hannah truly believes that Home Visitation is a sacred privilege.

Mairead lives in Bundoran, Co. Donegal and works as a Guidance Counsellor in Ballyshannon. She joined the Star of the Sea Conference, Bundoran in 2009 and has been a Conference Treasurer, Area President and Regional Board member to date. Education is something Mairead is passionate about, and in 2020, she set up the North West Education Committee.

Mairead firmly believes we have a wealth of knowledge within our local conferences and we must empower conference members to utilise all that knowledge, expertise and experience for the good of the society. By focusing on quality visitation and ensuring we listen to and hear those in need, we can achieve great things.

Annette joined the Society when she was 14 years old. As a member of a Youth Conference, they carried out hospital visitations, visited old people’s homes and a psychiatric hospital. She then progressed to adult Conferences, mostly in Home Visitation. Annette also ran one of the first women’s refuges in Wexford. To date, she has held every office within a Conference over the years and became Area President five years ago. Annette was elected Regional President for the South East region in March.

.

He has been married for thirty years to Jeanette, and has three grown-up children, Rachel, Rhianna, and Connor.

He was Area President of Derry for two and a half years until his recent appointment as Regional President. He has been a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for over 15 years, first inspired by my late mother, who taught me that faith is lived through action. He joined to serve others in a meaningful way, and over the years, he has seen how even small acts of kindness can make a huge difference to people’s lives.

What he enjoys most is working alongside such dedicated, compassionate people and witnessing the real difference our support makes.

To anyone thinking of joining, he would say this: you do not need any special skills; just having a caring heart and the willingness to listen is more than enough.

.

Visitor (Provincial) of the Province of Ireland of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians).

Fr. Paschal is an experienced chairman of Boards with a demonstrated history of working in the religious institutions industry. He has a strong community and social services and is professional skilled in Theology, Nonprofit Organisations, Event Planning, Discipleship, and Volunteer Management.