Patron and Board

Patron: Miriam O’Callaghan – Presenter / Producer

Miriam O'Callaghan was born and raised in Dublin. She qualified as a solicitor before beginning her broadcasting career on ITV's This is your Life. She joined the BBC as a producer in 1987, and went on to become a reporter on BBC2's Newsnight.

In the early ‘90s Miriam returned to Ireland to present RTE's current affairs flagship programme Prime Time, while continuing to cover the Northern Irish peace process for Newsnight.

In August 2000, Miriam co-founded Mint Productions, an independent production company that specialises in documentary.

Unusually for a current affairs presenter, Miriam was voted Best TV Personality at the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2003. To her surprise, she won the RTÉ Guide Style Award at the 2007 IFTAs following another public vote.

Outside of her work on Prime Time, Miriam has presented her own chat show, Saturday Night with Miriam, on RTÉ ONE for the past three summers and has also hosted two Test the Nation specials for the channel.

Miriam’s connection with DEBRA Ireland came about after she was involved in the filming of the first series of ‘Our Lady’s’ in 2004 which was based on the lives of families with children in Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin.  During the series she met the Graham family and their very special son Adam (RIP) who had Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).  Adam was one of the children featured in this series and Miriam formed a very strong bond with Adam and his family and subsequently became involved with DEBRA Ireland.

“I was delighted when I was asked to be patron of DEBRA Ireland.  I first got to know the charity during the filming of ‘Our Lady’s’ when I met a young boy called Adam Graham (RIP) who had EB.  Adam’s courage and strength while dealing with such a painful condition really struck a cord with me and I felt I needed to do something to raise awareness of this condition.  I have since met many EB patients and their families and I see this same courage and strength in each and every one of them.  Unfortunately EB is claiming the lives of these young people at too young an age and we need to do as much as we can to raise money to fund research into a cure for this debilitating condition.  Please support DEBRA Ireland in what ever way you can.”

Board:

Colm Darling (Chairman)

Kevin Graham

Val Fynes

Harry Goddard

Paul Molumby

Kieran O Byrne

Brian O'Neill

Dearbhla Griffith

Rosita Wolfe