Governance
As an organisation we take pride in meeting all statutory compliance and governance requirements and constantly review our practices and procedures to ensure that we deliver across all areas.
Governance Structure
The company is governed by a Board of Directors operating under a Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The Board comprises nominated individuals, each of whom brings specific expertise to the Board table. The Board operates under the Presidency of the Archbishop of Dublin and the Chairmanship of Nessan Vaughan. One third of Board members are nominated by the Archbishop.
The Board appointed a Chief Executive Officer, Mary Stringer, in December 2022.
The Board meets seven times a year and has one full day strategic planning meeting every second year.
The Board also operates four sub committees who report into the Board itself namely
- Finance, Audit and Risk Committee (FAR)
- Safeguarding, Protection and Welfare Committee
- Governance, Strategy & Organisational Development Committee (GSOD)
- HR Committee
Reach Deaf Services has representatives on the Board of
- Deaf Village Ireland Limited
- The National Deaf Sports and Leisure Company Limited which trades as the Inspire Fitness Centre in Deaf Village Ireland.
Reach Deaf Services senior management team meets every six weeks. Reach Deaf Services also operates a DLP meeting structure, which includes the Dublin Diocese safeguarding team.
The CEO attends and reports in writing to each Board meeting and facilitates the work of the various committees.
Reach Deaf Services produce mostly management accounts and all operations are audited annually by an external audit firm, the results of which are published.
The core staff at the administrative centre of Reach Deaf Services is relatively small, namely:
CEO
- Finance Department
- HR Department
- Office Administration, Social Media
- Property & Facilities Department
The finance team comprises four staff who provide all financial functions including payroll to the whole organisation. The Financial Controller reports directly to the CEO and to the Finance, Audit and Risk committee. The team also provides accounting services to Reach Deaf Service’s subsidiary company National Deaf Village Sports & Leisure which includes Inspire Fitness Centre.
With over 130 staff, the HR Department of Reach Deaf Services delivers on every aspect of HR from recruitment to retirement as well as providing support to management and staff and ensuring all policies and procedures are in line with best practice.
The Property and Facilities function is responsible for the general management of a campus that spans four locations and includes several buildings of varying age. This function also provides a wider support to the Deaf Village Ireland organisation.
Office Administration, Social Media and looks after the day to day running of the office and ensures that all website material is up to date.
Reach Deaf Services carries all required insurance policies and operates in line with the requirements of the Charities legislation. We are compliant with the Charities Governance Code and review our compliance tracker regularly.
Governance and Ethics
As an organisation we take pride in meeting all statutory compliance and governance requirements and constantly review our practices and procedures to ensure that we deliver across all areas.
We operate within the requirements of company law and charity regulation as well as ensuring adherence to sound financial accounting practices.
We are committed to the highest standards of protection, safeguarding and welfare across our services, in compliance with national legislation and best practice requirements.
At all times we demonstrate fairness, equity and equality in our HR and employment practices.
In addition to our 4 committees Reach Deaf Services promotes various training initiatives including Social Role Valorisation (SRV) to ensure the organisation delivers a service that promotes person centeredness, a rights based approach, independence, equality and safeguarding. The theory of Social Role Valorisation (SRV) focuses on valued roles for every individual to ensure the foundations for equality, inclusion and access to the good things in life.
Board Members
Nessan worked for over 30 years in the public service at the National Manpower Service, Department of Labour and FÁS. During this time he held a number of senior positions: Regional Manager of Community and Employment Services and a senior Policy Manager, where he had national responsibility and represented FÁS at EU level.
In 2010, Nessan, driven by a passion for social justice and equality, decided to leave the public service and to work (full-time) as a volunteer in the Community and Voluntary Sector. In addition to being Chair of Reach Deaf Services, he is also the Vicechair person of St Vincent De Paul’s (SVP) National Social Justice Committee and a member of the National Governance Committee and an active volunteer for his local SVP Conference and Area/Regional Councils. He is also Chair of the Northside Partnership, North Dublin MABS, New Life Centre (Darndale) and of The Employment Network (North Inner City). Nessan is also a Director of several other Not-For-Profit organisations in Dublin’s Inner City and Northside where he provides, amongst other things, support and advise on corporate governance.
Rosemary Grant graduated in social work from Trinity College Dublin in 1978. She worked in the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital from 1978 to 1983 at which point she moved to the Maternity Unit in St. James’ Hospital as Senior Medical Social Worker. She returned to the CWIUH in 1985 as Principal Medical Social Worker and remained there until her retirement in September 2019. During her career she had regular contact with members of the Deaf community. She hopes to bring to CIDP her experience in the areas of safeguarding and risk management.
John Cleere is Head of Corporate Services in the Courts Service with responsibility for Finance, Court Funds, Risk Management and Procurement amongst other things. In addition to being an Accountant he has a Diploma in Corporate Governance and is a qualified Company Secretary. He has worked in the Courts Service since 2000, prior to which he worked in the private sector in a number of industries; postal, insurance and technology. He joined the Finance & Audit Committee of CIDP in November 2016.
Carmel Grehan is Assistant Professor at School of Linguistic, Speech & Communication Sciences, Trinity College where she contributes to teaching across the Bachelor in Deaf Studies programme. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning and a M.Phil in Applied Linguistics in Trinity College Dublin.
She has led work to map Irish Sign Language (ISL) curriculum to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in the degree programme.
She formerly served as Chairperson of the Irish Deaf Society.
Pat Clavin joined An Garda Síochána in March 1982. He served the community in a variety of roles including mainstream policing, the Garda National Immigration Bureau, head of Internal Affairs and Professional Standards. From 2016 to 2020 Pat was the Chief Bureau Officer of the Criminal Assets Bureau. Pat was the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Governance and Accountability in Garda Headquarters. He retired from An Garda Síochána in October 2022.
Alan Clarke has been immersed in deaf culture all his life being a child of two Deaf adults (CODA).
He is a qualified chartered insurance and risk professional with over 25 years experience holding senior roles in both the public and private sector. In addition he holds a masters degree in leadership and strategy and is a part time contributor to the insurance institute of Ireland.
Dr Pól Bond has worked mainly in the area of education and is currently employed as a chartered educational psychologist. He has masters degrees in Education and Educational psychology. Pól is a specialist psychologist in the cognitive assessment of Deaf and Hard of Hearing adults and children. He was involved in the move from St Joseph’s Brewery rd. where he supported the residents as they transitioned to their new life in the community. Pól has previously worked in the Deaf community with Chime.ie (formally DeafHear.ie) and has a passion for social justice working with members of the Travelling community, the Deaf community and has always worked with disadvantaged children in his educational roles.
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