Freelance Forum Autumn 2014 For Photographers and Writers

Venue: Buswells Hotel Date: Monday 20 October 2014 Cost: €10 (tax-deductible) to NUJ members, non-members €25. Registration: 10.00am-10.30am (Tea/Coffee on arrival) Spaces are limited so register early

Book your place online now at http://dublinfreelance.org/freelance-forum-autumn-2014/

Enquiries Gerard Cunningham [email protected] 086-6073060 Or send your registration fee to: Helen Taylor, NUJ, Second Floor, Spencer House, Spencer Row, off Talbot Street, 1. Mark envelope Freelance Forum. All sessions open to writers and photographers NOTE: All speakers are appearing in a personal capacity.

Session 1: 10.30am – 11.45am Commissioning Editors Speaker: Peter Murtagh, Irish Times Emmet Ryan, Sunday Business Post Chair: Jason Walsh

Session 2: 11.45am – 1.00pm Crowdfunding Speaker: Lyra McKee, freelance journalist Gerard Cunningham Chair: Enid O'Dowd

Lunch 1.00pm – 2.00pm Lunch is available in Buswells hotel, the National Library and Cafe La Cocotte in the Alliance Francaise also in Kildare Street, among other venues in the vicinity.

Session 3: 2.00pm – 3.15pm Broadcasting/ (Commercial) Sponsorship Speaker: Sheila Ahern, Mary Raftery Fund Ross Church, Simon Cumbers Fund Chair: Rebecca Lee, radio journalist

Session 4: 3.15pm – 4.30pm Freedom of Information Speaker: Richard Dowling RTE Ray Mitchell, HSE Chair: Rodney Breen

We understand that as working journalists everyone may not be able to attend all sessions. Freelance Forum Autumn 2014 For Photographers and Writers

Speakers

Peter Murtagh is a Reporter with , having previously been Foreign Editor, Opinion Editor and a Managing Editor of the newspaper. He was the paper’s Security Correspondent in the early 1980s and co-authored, with Joe Joyce, The Boss, an investigation of the 1982 government of Charles Haughey. He has also worked for The Sunday Times, and The Sunday Tribune. He has written and co-authored a number of other books and edits the annual Irish Times Book of The Year.

Emmet Ryan is a journalist from Dun Laoghaire. His first writing gig was as a junior soccer writer for the Evening Herald and spent 7 years freelancing in business, sport, and technology before moving industry side for three years in 2010 in the betting sector. In 2013 he returned to print as editor of the Sunday Business Post's Computers in Business magazine , now Connected. Connected also saw the introduction of podcast and video content to the Sunday Business Post. He is also the paper's betting and beer columnist, runs Europe's largest English language website BallinEurope.com, has written two books on Gaelic Football strategy, and was named journalist of the year at the 2009 IIA NetVisionary awards.

Jason Walsh is the correspondent of the CSMonitor, the longest-running national newspaper in the United States. Based in Dublin, he also worked for PressEurop.eu and has contributes to newspapers and magazines in Ireland, Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

Lyra McKee is a freelance journalist from Belfast, successfully crowdfunded a book on Robert Bradford. She is an editor for Mediagazer and a former young journalist of the year.

Gerard Cunningham is a freelance journalist and author.

Enid O'Dowd is is a chartered accountant and freelance writer and journalist. She recently self-published her first novel, Fateful Decisions.

Sheila Ahern has worked as a researcher for the past 25 years, and has made a significant contribution to some of the most influential television programmes ever broadcast in Ireland. Concentrating on factual and historical content, much of her work has focused on social issues that have highlighted fundamental flaws in Irish society. She was also a long- time collaborator with Mary Raftery. Mary and Sheila were close friends, sharing a principled, sensitive and ethical approach to their work. Sheila sits on the Advisory Groups of the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund and the European Journalism Fund.

Ross Church is a Press Officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade. Prior to his appointment, Ross lived in Brussels for four years, where he worked for the European External Action Service (EEAS) as a Communication Officer for High Representative Catherine Ashton; focusing in particular on Press, New & Social Media and foreign policy research. Ross has a Masters degree in Political Strategy and Communication from the University of Kent and a Bachelor degree in Philosophy and Political Science from TCD.

Rebecca Lee is a radio presenter from Glenageary, Dublin. A familiar voice on the airwaves for the past eight years, she can be heard on The More Music Breakfast Show, Dublin’s Q102’s Celebrity Spy Xtra and Q102 News. Rebecca worked in television prior to radio, producing and presenting shows for City Channel and production company Paradise Pictures. Rebecca is also a Freelance Journalist.

Richard Dowling is RTE's North East Correspondent and currently a news editor, former editor of Morning Ireland. He is the author of “Secrets of the State and how to get them”, and contributed a chapter on FOI and the Garda Síochána to a forthcoming book.

Ray Mitchell is Assistant National Director with the Health Service Executive. Ray has worked with the Irish Health Service for over 20 years and has held a number of senior operational roles. He was acting CEO of Office of Tobacco Control which introduced the successful work place smoking ban. He currently holds corporate responsibility for Parliamentary and Regulatory Affairs which includes among other services corporate responsibility for Freedom of Information and Data Protection. He holds a Bachelors Degree and an MSc in Management from Trinity College Dublin.

Rodney Breen is an archivist and former Freedom of Information Officer. He has worked for many years in the UK and helped to set up the FOI unit in a London university and later was the FOI Officer for a Scottish University. He occasionally updates his FOIreland blog, on transparency in Northern Ireland and the Republic, and tweets as @FOIreland.