PDSA Recipients 2023

Aidan Connolly

Aidan Connolly serves as Executive Director of the Irish Arts Center in New York. He is awarded jointly with Pauline Turley, Vice Chair of the Irish Arts Center in the category of Arts, Culture, and Sport.

Founded in 1972, the Irish Arts Center is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to promoting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America of the 21st Century. In December 2021, Irish Arts Center opened a new $60 million state-of-the-art home on Manhattan’s Westside.

The son of Irish immigrants, Mr. Connolly began his career as a theatre and concert artist and producer, appearing in numerous regional productions and national tours. Prior to his current position, Mr. Connolly spent a decade working in politics and government in New York and nationally.

As Executive Director at the Irish Arts Center, he has led its transformation into one of New York’s most dynamic multidisciplinary institutions, through the development of numerous presenting programs, residencies, festivals, collaborations, commissions, and institutional partnerships.

Pauline Turley

Pauline Turley serves as Vice Chair of the Irish Arts Center in New York. She is being jointly awarded with Aidan Connolly, Executive Director of the Irish Arts Center in the category of Arts, Culture, and Sport.

Founded in 1972, the Irish Arts Center is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to promoting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America of the 21st Century. In December 2021, Irish Arts Center opened a new $60 million state-of-the-art home on Manhattan’s Westside.

Born in Co. Down, Ms Turley graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a B.A. Honours degree in Drama and Theatre Studies. Ms Turley served as Executive Director of the Irish Arts Centre from 1998 until 2006 when she was appointed Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.

She has been recognised by the Irish American community for her work in preserving and promoting Irish culture in the U.S. Ms Turley was selected as one of the Irish American Magazine’s Top 100 Irish Americans, the Irish Echo Newspaper’s Top 40 Under 40, and one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Irish America by the Irish Voice Newspaper. In 2009, she was one of the youngest ever recipients of the Michael Smurfit Leadership Award, presented by the Irish Chamber of Commerce USA (ICCUSA), and in 2016 Ms Turley was recognised as one of the Top 50 Power Women in Irish America by Irish America Magazine.

Dr. Beatriz Kopschitz Xavier Bastos - Brazil

Dr. Beatriz Kopschitz Xavier Bastos is co-founder and vice-coordinator of Núcleo de Estudos Irlandeses, at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. She is being awarded in the category of Arts, Culture, and Sport.

Dr. Bastos holds a PhD in Linguistic and Literary Studies in English from Universidade de São Paulo and an MA in English from Northwestern University, USA. She was a visiting researcher at University College Dublin, University of Galway and Trinity College Dublin, and is currently an executive member of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures – and a member of the Ulysses Council at the Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin.

For decades, through her research, teaching and other academic and cultural activities, Dr Bastos has fostered lasting links between Brazilian and Irish universities and cultural organizations, contributing to the strength, vibrancy and richness of Irish Studies and Irish arts and culture in Brazil. Her publications include collections of Irish plays in English or translated into Portuguese, articles and collections of articles in the field of Irish Studies. She has organized numerous academic Irish Studies events, Irish film festivals, and she is also one of the directors of Cia Ludens, a Brazilian theatre company dedicated to the translation, publication and staging of Irish plays.

Philip Treacy

Philip Treacy is the world's most in-demand hat designer. He is being awarded in the category of Arts, Culture, and Sport.

Born in Galway, Mr. Treacy is widely credited for changing the perception of the hat, designing hats to flatter and enhance the wearer. His hats are as popular with European aristocrats as with Hollywood royalty.

“I have had the greatest pleasure of having the opportunity to challenge people's perception of what a hat should look like in the 21st century. I make hats because I love hats. It's an enigmatic object that serves the human purpose only of beautification and embellishment, and making one feel good, whether you’re the observer of the spectacle or the wearer”. — Philip Treacy

Dr. (h.c.) Fritz Senn

Dr. (h.c.) Fritz Senn is an accomplished scholar of the works of James Joyce. He is being awarded in the Category of Arts, Culture, and Sport.

Dr. Senn was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1928 and grew up in Zurich. He was director of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation when it was established in 1985, with the aim of keeping alive the memory and work of the Irish writer James Joyce for the literary world in general, and in particular for Zurich, where Joyce spent some important creative years and where he died.

Dr. Senn has been a Visiting Professor at Ohio State University, University of Indiana, and University of Hawaii. He is an Honorary doctor of the University of Cologne (1972), Honorary doctor of the University of Zürich (1988), Honorary doctor of University College Dublin (2004). He has been awarded the Prize of the Max Geilinger Foundation (1972), the Johann-Jakob Bodmer prize of the City of Zürich (1998), the Gold Medal of Honor of the Canton of Zürich (2009) and the Zürcher Festspielpreis (2014).

Dr. Howard Keeley

Dr. Howard Keeley directs the Center for Irish Research and Teaching at Georgia Southern University and cofounded TradeBridge, a partnership which fosters trade and investment between the Savannah region and Southeast Ireland. He is being awarded in the category of Business and Economic Development.

Having emigrated to the United States and working as a chef for some years, Dr. Keeley became the first person in his family to earn an undergraduate degree and he would go on to receive a PhD in English from Princeton University. In addition to publishing on such topics as the representation of material culture in Irish literature of the late nineteenth century, Dr. Keeley is principal investigator on the Savannah Irish Neighborhoods and the Wexford-Savannah Axis research projects.

Work by Dr. Keeley, his colleagues, and their students has deepened our understanding of the significant Wexford diaspora in Savannah, Georgia’s oldest city. A critical dimension of the study is the historical relationship between Irish immigrants and African Americans in working-class, ethnically diverse Savannah neighborhoods.

An important outcome of the work has been the establishment of Georgia Southern University’s first overseas campus, in Wexford, Ireland, which will welcome over 180 students between April and July of 2024 and achieve year-round functionality by 2026. With World Trade Center Savannah, Wexford County Council, and Wexford Enterprise Center, Dr. Keeley cofounded a partnership called TradeBridge, which fosters trade and investment between the Savannah region and Southeast Ireland.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher K.C.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher K.C. is a barrister and human rights lawyer who has acted in many landmark cases in the UK, before the European Court of Human Rights and international tribunals. She is being awarded in the category of Charitable Works and Advocacy.

Ms Gallagher K.C. has acted in a number of cases concerning the rights of the Irish in Britain, such as leading the legal team acting for the family of Margaret Keane, overturning a ruling preventing them from using an Irish only inscription on her gravestone. She also acted for women and girls from Northern Ireland, and NGOs supporting them, in landmark (successful) legal challenges to the previous near-total ban on abortion in Northern Ireland. She is Ireland’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection; a Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission; and an Adjunct Full Professor at UCD.

Ms Gallagher K.C.’s cases included acting for bereaved families of the Hillsborough Disaster and the 7/7 London Bombings; and for many arbitrarily detained journalists, cartoonists, human rights defenders and peaceful protestors imprisoned around the world.

Much of Ms Gallagher K.C.’s work concerns children’s rights and she has acted in cases which have defined the law in this area, including on: rights of children in police custody; State obligations to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse; State duties to homeless children and children in need; the rights of children to be heard and their interests considered when their parents face imprisonment or extradition; and the misuse of restraint against children with learning disabilities. She has advised the UN on children’s rights issues for child soldiers kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Dr. Stanley Quek

Dr. Stanley Quek is the Chairman of the Ireland Funds Singapore which has raised more than S$6m since 2009 to support projects involving children with special needs and eldercare. He is being awarded in the category of Charitable Works and Advocacy.

Dr. Quek is a former medical practitioner, having studied at Trinity College Dublin, and was the Honorary Consul General representing Ireland in Singapore from 1994 to May 2000. He is a member of the Provost’s Council at Trinity College Dublin and was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine (honoris causa) by the National University of Ireland and an Honorary Degree of Doctor in Laws (honoris causa) by Trinity College Dublin. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and in February 2019 was elected the 61st Pro Chancellor of the University of Dublin.

He was the former Chief Executive and Chairman of Frasers Property Australia and the UK until his retirement in 2017. In recent years, he has turned his attention to boutique hospitality and hotel resorts in Ireland and Australia. Dr. Quek remains passionate about the Arts, Culture, Design and Architecture and in creating sustainable and liveable communities.

Dr Patricia Mary Lewis

Dr Patricia Mary Lewis is the Research Director for International Security at Chatham House. She is being awarded in the category of Education, Science, and Innovation.

A dual national of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Dr Lewis holds a BSc in Physics from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics from the University of Birmingham. Dr Lewis has published and spoken widely on aspects of conflict prevention, international security, science, verification, cyber security, disinformation, biosecurity, arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation.

Prior to joining Chatham House, Dr Lewis served as Deputy Director and Scientist-in-Residence at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, as the Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva, and as Director of VERTIC, the Verification Research and Training Centre in London, UK.

Dr Lewis was the recipient of the American Physical Society Joseph A. Burton Forum Award (2009) for her contributions to the public understanding of science in arms control and international security and co-chairs the Scientific Advisory Group of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Ms. Maria Doyle

Ms. Maria Doyle started life as a Magdalene Baby, received little formal education and from the age of nine had to cope with sudden blindness. She is being awarded in the category of Inclusion and Equality.

She went on her first international singing tour to the US at 13 years of age. She represented Ireland in the Eurovision at 19, when she felt obliged to hide her blindness, she has since overcome others' prejudices, becoming an ambassador for both the visually impaired and people dealt a difficult hand.

In 2022, Ms Doyle was appointed an ambassador for “Voir Ensemble” and visits institutions for blind children and shares her story. In September 2023, she was one of four key speakers at a French Ministry of Culture meeting to prepare including the learning and use of Braille in the intangible cultural heritage of humanity at UNESCO. She feels the visually impaired, the world over, should have the advantage of learning how to use Braille and for artists, like herself, reading music in Braille is also essential.

Ms. Sinéad El Sibai

Ms. Sinéad El Sibai is a well-known figure amongst the Irish community in Dubai and her achievements have been instrumental in fostering dialogue, raising awareness, and promoting Ireland in the Middle East. She is being awarded in the category of Irish Community Support.

Over the past 35 years, Ms El Sibai has served in many pivotal roles among the Irish community in Dubai. She is a founding board member of the Irish Business Network and served as Chair up to 2022. Following her tenure as Chair she has continued to work with the Irish Business Network through the Woman's Network, leadership sessions, webinars, and mentoring.

Ms El Sibai is the Senior Vice President for Marketing at Dubai Duty Free and has been at the forefront of the operation’s major sponsorship agreements and their activation, including the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. She is often the first port of call for local sponsorships from the Irish Community and as a result, Dubai Duty Free is the main sponsor of the Dubai Celts GAA Club and the Dubai Irish Golf Society.

The Arts in Ireland have also benefited from Ms El Sibai’s sponsorship drive, with the Dublin Arab Film Festival, organised by Jim Sheridan, attracting the best of Arab film and big names such as the late Omar Sharrif. She is currently coordinating DDF’s sponsorship of documentary series “From That Small Island” which focuses on the history of the Irish diaspora, which will now feature Dubai’s diaspora.

Mr. Seamus Sullivan

Mr. Seamus Sullivan has contributed to the Irish Australian community in many different ways over the past 50 years, including assisting those in personal crisis, and promoting and sharing Irish culture in Brisbane, Queensland, and Australia. He is being awarded in the category of Irish Community Support.

Mr. Sullivan is a founding member and former President of the Irish Australian Support Association of Queensland, which provides support, care, and assistance to members of the Irish Australian community in Queensland facing difficult situations such as alcohol and substance abuse, death of loved ones, domestic violence, and those in housing and financial crisis.

Mr. Sullivan was also instrumental in introducing Gaelic football and hurling to Queensland 50 years ago, serving as the President of the Gaelic Football and Hurling Association of Australasia for over 30 years, while also the President of the Gaelic football and hurling Association of Queensland.

Mr. Sullivan has also been a key driver of the annual St Patrick's Day Parade through his role as President of the St Patrick's Day Parade Association. His work on the parade, along with his involvement in Gaelic Football, has introduced many people to Irish culture.

In recent years' Mr. Sullivan has been President of the Queensland Irish Association, and currently holds the role of Vice President, working tirelessly in promoting Irish culture in Queensland.

Fr. Gabriel Dolan

Fr. Gabriel Dolan is the Executive director of the human rights organisation Haki Yetu (Our Rights) in Mombasa, Kenya and is committed to the promotion of human rights and social justice for a cohesive society. He is being awarded in the category of Peace, Reconciliation, and Development.

Born in Co. Fermanagh in 1954, Fr. Dolan was ordained a priest for St Patrick’s Missionary Society in 1982 and appointed to Kenya. He has spent the past 41 years in Kenya: fifteen years in the Turkana Desert, nine years in the Kitale Highlands and sixteen years in the Coastal City of Mombasa.

He established the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Turkana and Kitale. In Mombasa, he established the first slum parish in the city and founded Haki Yetu (Our Rights). It has a team of fourteen full time workers, lawyers and activists, both Muslims and Christians, with an equal gender and ethnic divide. It deals with matters of land and housing, access to justice, governance and accountability, gender-based violence and elder protection.

Fr. Dolan has been a weekly columnist for a Kenyan national newspaper for the past fifteen years and is a board member of several human rights organisations in Kenya. He has also been ministering in a parish throughout this time.