The Team

Ailish Bracken - Chairperson

Ailish is a producer and line producer working across TV and Film in Ireland. She has worked with most of the leading production companies in the country and is currently working on several projects both as a line producer and producer. She is the chair of Raising Films Ireland and the Administrator of the Production and Accounts Guild of Ireland.

Dr. Susan Liddy -Research, Events & Industry

Dr Susan Liddy lectures in the Department of Media and Communication Studies in MIC, Limerick. She is editor of Women in the Irish Film Industry: Stories and Storytellers (February 2020) and Women in the International Film Industry: Policy Practice and Power (August 2020). 

Susan is Chair of WFT Ireland; Chair of the WGI’s Equality Action Committee and co- director of Catalyst International FF, Limerick.

Jennifer Davidson - Events & Industry Officer

Jennifer is a TV screenwriter. She currently writes for RTE’s Fair City, and has a number of original projects in development. Jennifer is also the Deputy Chair of the Writers’ Guild of Ireland. 

Elaine Walsh - Fundraising

Elaine is a freelance Script Editor/Story Consultant. She develops diverse screen content with writers, Women, LGBTQIA+, BAME, people with disabilities, minority groups. She also works in Corporate Finance, which is where her understanding of funding and impact investment comes from. She is particularly interested in ESG funding. 

Clare Monnelly - Social Media Manager

Clare is an actor and writer. She has worked with RTÉ, TG4, Element Pictures, Sky One and Deadpan Pictures among others. On stage she has worked with Druid, the Abbey, the Gate, Decadent Theatre and more. She is currently developing her first screen project with Deadpan Pictures.

Niamh O’Connor - Administrator

Niamh is a journalist, author and screenwriter. A mum-of-three, she studied in University College Dublin, Dublin City University, the National Film School and the University of East Anglia. The “guilt” of the working mother is a recurring theme in her recent work.

Emer MacAvin - Board Member

Emer started working in the Film and TV Industry in 1992 , working up the ranks as a single mother on various International and Irish feature films, TV series and TV commercials. Emer now works as Skills and Development Executive in Screen Skills Ireland over S481. Emer is passionate about skills development and making the Screen Sector inclusive and accessible to all.

Barbara Deignan - Board Member

Barbara Deignan is the network manager at Screen Skillnet, a learning organisation funded through the Department of Education and Skills that supports the growth of the Film, TV and Post-Production sectors in Ireland through the provision of subsidised training. She is also a screenwriter on RTÉ’s Fair City. As a new mother she has a keen interest in the role of parents and carers in the screen industry.