People sitting at a meeting

The current trustees of the Society of St Vincent de Paul are:

Rose McGowan

National President - appointed September 2020

Rose has been a member of the Society since her early school days, visiting the North inner city in Dublin where she continues to carry out her visitation today with her Conference. She has held a number of roles in the Society from Conference President, Area President and was Regional President for the Dublin Region from 2005.

Rose was appointed National Twinning Coordinator in 2006 and became a member of the Commission for International Aid and Development in Paris having been appointed by the previous President General, a position she has been reappointed to by the current President General.

SVP Trustee John Lupton

John Lupton

National Vice President - appointed October 2020

John Lupton is Regional President of the Mid-West Region (i.e., Clare, Limerick, Offaly and Tipperary). Born (August 14th, 1952) in Roscrea, John is a member of the town’s St. Cronan’s Conference since March 1983. Having been involved in various community empowerment initiatives over the years, he sees his role, as a Vincentian, as facilitating those isolated and marginalised, through need, back to their rightful place in their community of belonging.

A past pupil of Roscrea CBS and graduate of UCD, he is founding principal of the Accountancy firm, Lupton & Associates, and a Trust & Estate and Personal Insolvency Practitioner.

SVP Trustee Peter Fitzpatrick

Peter Fitzpatrick

National Treasurer - appointed July 2017

Peter is a native of Belfast, where he lived until he graduated from Queen’s University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England before moving to Dublin in 1980, where he has lived since then. He is now retired and was previously a Partner in Coopers & Lybrand, Chartered Accountants (now part of Price Waterhouse Coopers) before embarking on a career in Financial Services.

In the past, he has acted as a non-executive director for a number of companies and served with Associations in a voluntary capacity. Peter’s previous involvement with the Society was in the role of Independent Examiner for a number of years. He is married with four children and seven grandchildren.

Peter McGrath

National Vice President Social Housing and Risk - appointed October 2023

Originally joined the Vincent de Paul after school in the 70’s, firstly in an intermediate conference and then a visitation conference in the North Inner-city, until moving out of Dublin.

A chance meeting on retirement led to rejoining the Society as an external member of the National Social Housing Committee specialising in Governance and Risk. He is also a member of the Society’s Audit and Risk Committee.

He is a graduate of UCD and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and retired in 2017 after a career in Education and Health.

SVP Trustee Paddy O'Flynn

Paddy O'Flynn

Regional President South West - appointed February 2020

Paddy O’ Flynn is a native of West Cork and has been a volunteer with the Society since 2006. He is married to Ann, and they have four children and eight grandchildren. Ann is a Conference President, and their daughter Mairead is a volunteer with the Society in Cork. Paddy has been a Conference President, Area President and most recently a Vice President of the South West Region.

Following graduation from UCC, Paddy spent his working life managing operations for multinational companies in the UK and Ireland in the food and drink industry. Paddy is particularly interested in all matters relating to social justice and is passionate about the role of education in the Society’s work. He is also very proud to have recently established a separate Conference in the region focused on assisting asylum seekers in eleven direct provision centres. In his spare time, he is very interested in local history, he plays golf and loves gardening.

SVP Trustee Maureen Mitchell

Maureen Mitchell

Regional President West - appointed November 2020

Maureen originally from Dublin was first introduction to the Vincent De Paul in the early 1970’s 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 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.

SVP Trustee Mary Waide

Mary Waide

Regional President Northern Ireland - appointed July 2020

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 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.

SVP Trustee Teresa Ryan

Teresa Ryan

Regional President Mid West - appointed April 2020

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 organization, as vital ways of breaking the ever-widening circles of deprivation and poverty.

Hannah Clarke

Regional President North East & Midlands - appointed May 2023

Hannah has been with St Vincent de Paul for 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.

SVP Trustee Maureen McGurren

Mairead McGurren

Regional President North West - appointed January 2022

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.

SVP Trustee Annette Beckett

Annette Beckett

Regional President South East - appointed April 2022

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 refuge 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.

SVP Trustee Maire Cronin

Marie Cronin

Regional President East - appointed July 2020

Marie joined SVP in the late 80s. She was the founding member of a number of Conferences in Dublin over the years, mainly in North Clondalkin, Neilstown, Ballyfermot and Cherryorchard. Marie served as Area President in Dublin West County Area for two five-year terms and for another five-year term as Area President in Ballyfermot/Clondalkin Area. She set up three SVP clothing shops in the Region prior to the introduction of the Shops Council.

Recently Marie has been involved in setting up foodbanks in the area funded by the Dublin City Council. Marie is married to Bernard and has three adult children and five grandchildren. She was employed as a Senior Computer Programmer in the Civil Service for a number of years before spending twenty years working in Sales and Marketing for Eason and Son. Her passion in life is to encourage the families SVP visits to remain in education by mentoring and expanding tuition assistance at second level so that third level education is open to everyone. "Education is the best way out of poverty" says Marie.

SVP Trustee Fr. Paschal Scallon

Fr Paschal Scallon CM

Spiritual Advisor - appointed March 2014

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 professional skilled in Theology, Nonprofit Organisations, Event Planning, Discipleship, and Volunteer Management.

SVP Trustee Niall Mulligan National Secretary

Niall Mulligan

National Secretary - December 2022 (Staff: not Trustee)

Niall is an experienced Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit sector. He is skilled in non-profit organisations, coaching, event management, facilitation, and management. Niall has a particular interest in human rights work. He is a strong business development professional with a Masters in Healthcare Management and Certificate focused in Financial Accounting from Dundalk Institute of Technology.

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