Our Team

Andy has worked in the community and voluntary sector for over 10 years. His work to date has involved working directly with those at risk of marginalisation through a community development approach, meeting people where they are at, and creating the conditions for groups to identify issues and develop collective responses which can lead to social change.

This involved empowering groups to design and deliver programmes which involved collective decision making and collective action, aimed at bringing about a better deal for the whole group, community or marginalised group, and seeking to address unequal access to power, decision making and resources.

A key element of this involved engaging with those in power, producing submissions with groups who experience marginalisation based on their lived experience, and ensuring policies were inclusive of their experiences.

UISCE has a team of Outreach Workers, to connect with members of this team, please contact anne@myuisce.org

Padraig Ryan is a practising barrister. Padraig graduated in law and economics from Maynooth University. He attended Kings Inns and was called to the Bar in 2015.

Padraig works predominantly in civil law with particular interest in company law, employment law and governance. Earlier in his career Padraig worked in Italy as a teacher of business English.

Erin works as Community Support Manager of HIV Ireland, managing all support, advocacy, and HIV and STI testing services. Erin has a PhD in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin; her thesis examined the trajectory and impact of the anti-drug movement in Dublin’s north inner-city from the 1980s until the end of the movement in 2002.

In 1994, Erin helped to form the Inner-City Peer Support group, the precursor to UISCE, which founded the Brass Munkie magazine.

John Dermody has worked supporting people who use drugs in homeless and community services for the past 13 years in a variety of roles. He is currently in a management role in residential homeless services and is also involved in the development and delivery of training in trauma informed practice for the sector.