About Us - Reference Group
Daire Dempsey
Policy Lead at the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, working to make Ireland a safer and more equitable place for people of all genders. In this role they lead on research, policy and advocacy towards trans equality. They would like to continue in the cycle of life by being buried in a natural burial ground.
Peter McGuire
Freelance journalist, writing primarily for The Irish Times and Noteworthy, the investigations unit at TheJournal.ie. He is a two-time GALA nominee. Previously, he lectured in contemporary Irish folklore at UCD, where much of his work focused on death customs and beliefs. When he dies, he longs to return to the Earth and for his atoms to be recycled into many beautiful and ugly things.
Karen Dempsey
Director of Entheos.ie, an inclusive organisation founded to serve people outside traditional faith paths; ensuring that everyone can have ceremonies to reflect their authentic selves, especially at End of Life. Karen's career includes both palliative care and obstetric nursing alongside psychotherapy and ceremonies, and she is a lifelong activist for equality, diversity and inclusion. She is passionate about challenging the heteronormativity of ceremonies and healthcare and is a firm believer in being the change we wish to see in the world.
James O'Hagan
Podcaster and activist passionate about giving voice to marginalised communities and exploring intersectional identities. His work with LGBT Ireland, the national support service for LGBTQ+ people in Ireland, focuses on ensuring older members of the LGBTQ+ community are supported and enabled to flourish and enjoy inclusive, healthy and fulfilling lives as part of their communities. When the time comes, he wants to be cremated to a soundtrack of Tom Jones' cover of Burning Down the House.
Michael Foley
Civic Engagement for Societal Impact Manager in Trinity College Dublin. He promotes and encourages civic activity and partnership between the university, NGOs, public sector agencies and community groups. He is interested in ways to give voice to people with life-limiting conditions and those who are trying to support them. Knowing Irish people's love of funerals, he hopes that something unexpectedly dramatic happens at his funeral to give people a good story for their anthology of funeral lore.
Julia Pakula
Executive Assistant at the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care living in Dublin, passionate about all thing's inclusivity, events and social media. When the time comes, she would like for her ashes to be turned into stones and for her family and chosen family to celebrate her life opposed to mourn her death
Hayley Fox-Roberts
LGBTI+ activist, writer, consultant and community development worker with a focus on rural exclusion. She leads the Seeding the County Cork LGBT+ development project as part of her work with Cumann na Daoine CRC in Youghal. She has worked in LGBT+ community settings across the country for many years, providing training and development support at community and statutory level. Her research reports include LGBT+ needs assessments in Carlow and Cork and she is a Board member of NXF. Hayley lives in West Cork.
Paula Pinto
Programme Manager for Policy and Engagement at the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care. Passionate about creating positive social impact and fostering honest connections and engagement with diverse communities. When she dies, she hopes to be cremated and be kept in an antique tea pot overlooking the sea.
Ben Lucent
A multidisciplinary artist, theatre maker and Interfaith Minister in training. He lives in rural South Sligo in a house that increasingly resembles the set of a 90s children's TV show (including the puppets and slime). He would like to be buried in a woodland burial plot or in a tree pod.
Ailbhe Smyth
Founding head of Women's and Gender Studies at University College Dublin where she lectured for many years and is a long-time LGBTIQ+, feminist and socialist activist.
Pradeep Mahadeshwar
A multifaceted visual artist and LGBTQIA+ activist based in Ireland. His work explores identity, migration, race, and sexuality through storytelling, illustration, filmmaking, and writing. Pradeep is the founder of Queer Asian Pride Ireland and the Queer Spectrum Film Festival. He has created spaces for celebrating and amplifying queer narratives, especially those of Queer People of Colour (QPOC). His work focuses on themes of displacement, migration, and the impact of racism on mental and sexual health, making his voice particularly relevant to Ireland's multicultural LGBTQIA+ community.
Valerie Smith
Public Engagement Lead with Irish Hospice Foundation, managing the Think Ahead advance care planning programme. In her role, she trains professionals and communities on advance care planning and finds inventive ways to help people to talk about death, dying and grief. She would like to be buried in an eco-graveyard, when the time comes.
Kathleen Quinlan
Lecturer/tutor in St Francis Hospice Dublin who work with individuals with a life limiting condition, their families, and significant others. She facilitates palliative care education and training actively challenging herself and others to do better for all communities through knowledge, skill, and attitude change.
Valerie Smith
Public Engagement Lead with Irish Hospice Foundation, managing the Think Ahead advance care planning programme. In her role, she trains professionals and communities on advance care planning and finds inventive ways to help people to talk about death, dying and grief. She would like to be buried in an eco-graveyard, when the time comes.