How We are Run

Inclusion Ireland complies with the Governance Code for Charity Organisations as set out by the Charity Regulator in Ireland.

Inclusion Ireland has a CEO and Board of Directors who make sure that we work in accordance with our values and strategic plan.

What we do

We provide information and advice and advocacy support.
We produce information leaflets and booklets
We share information through our newsletters, website, and social media.
We deliver information & training talks
We take part in research and consultation to inform our work.
We produce reports, submissions, and annual reviews to inform decision making, policy and law.
We bring people together, to talk about what equality and rights mean to them, share their experiences, and find ways to promote equality and human rights in communities and services around the country.
We organise seminars and conferences
We include and support our members in all the work we do.
We are members of Inclusion International & Inclusion Europe.

Our Team

Our Board of Directors

Ashley Sands

Ashley is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors. Ashley’s son has an intellectual disability and she has a keen interest in access to housing for people with disabilities. She was appointed as a director in November 2020. Ashley works in Human Resources and has extensive experience of Human Resource Management, systems, people management, learning and development, compliance with various regulators and legislation.

Tomás Murphy

Tomás was appointed Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Inclusion Ireland in January 2025. Tomás has been a self-advocate board member since 2020. He has experience of working with Inclusion Ireland on three research projects where he has earned a Certificate in Research. Tomás is a former ambassador for the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disability and works for A& L Goodbody where he sits on the Disability Committee.

Rona Bowe

Rona is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, having trained with PWC. She has over 25 years of leadership experience in Operations and Finance, including 23 years in the ICT sector with Microsoft Ireland. Rona is extremely passionate about Diversity & Inclusion and was very active in this space in Microsoft, founding the Families Employee Resource Group in Ireland in 2018 and appointed as the D&I Site Lead in 2022. She was a finalist in the Women Mean Business Awards in 2019. She is also a Non-Executive Director on the board of St. Margaret's IASDL and Chair of their Risk & Quality Committee. Rona holds a B.Comm. Degree (UCC), M.Acc. (UCD) and a Professional Diploma in Corporate Governance, Risk and Compliance from UCC/ Irish Management Institute.

Briana Fitzsimons

is a mixed race (Afro-Latina/German Jew) woman of colour who immigrated to Ireland in 2017. Briana is interested in both International Development and Education, Training and Research as sectors. Briana worked as a special education teacher for 12 years and is now the Managing Director / Director of Education of Black and Irish, an organisation that is dedicated to celebrating and bringing awareness to the lives and experiences of black and mixed-race people in Ireland.

Glenn Shanley

was appointed as a director of Inclusion Ireland in November 2020. He is married with three young boys and is the Head of Corporate Banking in Ulster Bank. He is on the management team of the Commercial Banking Division of Ulster Bank has responsibility for all commercial customers.

Martin Rowan

was appointed as a director in November 2020. He was Chairperson of the self-advocacy subcommittee of the Board of Inclusion 2016-2019, and has been co-chair of the Carmona self-advocacy group and was also a member of two other self-advocacy groups.

John Moore

was appointed as a director in November 2020. He is company secretary of Inclusion Ireland and is the parent of a person with intellectual disabilities. He has 20 years company director experience in advertising, marketing, communications, digital and brand.