Marymount University Hospital & Hospice
Board of Directors
Marymount University Hospital & Hospice is a company limited by guarantee and incorporates a service for older people as well as specialist palliative care services.
Current Board Members
Marymount is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors, who were initially appointed by the Provincial of the Religious Sisters of Charity, but who elect subsequent directors themselves. The Current Board of Directors as of 2024 is made up of the following members with details of their specialisms.
Bernard has been a member of The Marymount Board since 2020. Bernard is an experienced professional executive with a core background in Finance and Human Resources. Bernard spent 39 years with Apple in Cork most recently in the position of HR Director. Previously he had spent 15 years in Finance with Apple 10 of which were as Financial Controller. He also spent a period as Controller for the original Apple Mac facility in Fremont California. Prior to joining Apple Bernard was a Director of Sunbeam Ltd. Bernard is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA)
Catherine joined the Marymount Board in 2020. Catherine is a senior lecturer in Health Professions’ Education in the Medical Education Unit in University College Cork, where she is involved in coordination of MSc programmes and palliative care undergraduate medical education. She took up a full-time post in UCC in 2019. She previously worked as a general practitioner and was Medical Director of the Service for Older People in Marymount University Hospital for many years.
John has been a Member of the Marymount Board since 2018. John is a Senior Counsel with an extensive practice in the fields of commercial and personal injuries litigation. He was educated in University College Cork and the King’s Inns in Dublin. John was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1987 and was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1996. In 2010 he was appointed a Senior Counsel. He is an accredited mediator, an experienced arbitrator, a former member of the Professional Practices Committee of the Bar of Ireland and a former board member of the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork.
Margaret joined the Board of Marymount in 2019. Margaret’s working life was mainly in administration and spanned a variety of enterprises – Local Government, Economic and Social Research Institute, Central Statistics Office, Midleton Services Limited, The Congregation of the Presentation Brothers and University College Cork. Following the death of her son as a result of medical error she was invited to join the newly formed W.H.O. Patients for Patient Safety Programme and over a twenty-year-plus period has been a patient safety advocate and served as the External Lead Advisor and Steering group member of WHO Patients for Patient Safety. Her work in the field has entailed local, national and international activity.
Martin has been a member of the Marymount Board since 2022. Martin is an experienced retail executive and served on the Board of The Musgrave Group for 11 years and served as Managing Director of Musgrave Retail Partners for 10 years. Currently, as founder and owner of Dursey Capital limited he is an advisor to businesses on transactions and business issues such as acquisitions, succession planning, business growth plans as well as being a mentor to business owners and leadership teams. Martin holds a Batchelor of Commerce degree from University College Cork, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and a member of the Institute of Directors in Ireland
Mary joined the Board of Marymount in 2021. Mary is a qualified Registered General Nurse with post registration clinical qualifications in midwifery and critical care nursing. She has attained additional qualifications to include an MSc in Health Services Management at Trinity College, Dublin. Mary worked as the Director of Nursing and member of the Executive Management Board at the Mercy University Hospital, Cork leaving in 2009 to begin working with the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). In HIQA she held the position of Chief Inspector of Social Services and Director of Regulation.
Paddy joined the Board of Marymount in 2017. Paddy is a Marine Engineer and served in the Merchant Navy for 10 years. He then worked for 30 years in the Pharmaceutical industry with Pfizer in maintenance, utilities, production and ultimately lead the Pfizer site engineering team in Cork for 15 years before retiring in 2018. Paddy has served on the boards of a number of organisation.
Peter has been Member of the Marymount Board since 2019 and was appointed Chairman in 2023. Peter retired in 2019 having held a variety of senior finance roles in the multi-national sector including roles with Johnson & Johnson , Organon Ireland , General Semiconductor Europe and Square D Saudi Arabia. Peter holds a B.Comm from University College Cork and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Peter is a member of the Institute Of Directors and holds a Diploma in Company Direction from the I.O.D.
Cormac joined the Board of Marymount in 2024. He is professor of computer science at University College Cork, and previously worked in industry as a research scientist at AT&T Bell Labs USA. Cormac is a UCC alumnus, and was awarded a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Cambridge. At UCC he leads a research team, engaging closely with IT companies and other organisations seeking to advance the role of future Internet technology in their operations. He is a Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator, a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, and Life Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Mohamad joined the Marymount Board in 2024. He is Senior Lecturer and Vice Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork. Previously, he worked as Oncology Nurse and Palliative Care Advanced Nurse Practitioner. Mohamad has over 100 research outputs and over €11 million in research funding. He recently led a research project in collaboration with Marymount University Hospital and Hospice. His research is primarily focused on the use of virtual reality in a number of contexts, including difficult conversations. Mohamad teaches across several interdisciplinary palliative care and communication modules in partnership with Marymount University Hospital and Hospice.
Fiona joined the Marymount Board in 2024. She is currently a Finance Director for Johnson & Johnson based in Cork, where she has supported both their Innovative Medicine and MedTech sectors. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Fiona spent 11 years working abroad, holding various finance roles at Ford Motor Company, Accenture, Conoco Phillips, and DuPont. Fiona earned a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master’s in Business Studies from University College Dublin. She is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Additionally, Fiona holds a Master’s in Positive & Coaching Psychology from University College Cork.
For Specific Areas of Interest
Sub-Committees
The Board normally meets every two months, and has appointed several sub-committees to deal with specific areas of interest. These committees are as follows:
The Executive Committee, have responsibility for the day-to-day management of the services. They ensure smooth and safe operations of all services. They meet monthly to review current operations including GDPR, quality, safety, relevant operational statistics, business issues, National agendas, finance and HR business. They are responsible for reviewing and implementing the strategic plan within given resources.
The Mission Committee, have responsibility for ensuring that the hospital operates in keeping with its the ethos, philosophy and core values
The Finance and Development Committee meet bi monthly and have responsibility for overseeing the financial affairs of the service, including fundraising and overseeing key strategic (capital) projects/developments. They are kept abreast of spends> 25K
The Audit Committee are a subcommittee of the finance/ development committee and membership is non-executive directors. There work includes salary reviews to ensure compliance.
The Arbitration Committee, has responsibility for advising the Board of Directors and service management on matters such as serious HR issues/ disciplinary/ complaints/ service concerns.
The Nomination Committee, has responsibility for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the structure, size and composition of the Board. They nominate potential new Directors when rotation occurs.
The Quality & Safety Committee, have responsibility for overseeing data and information relating to quality, risk management and clinical audit, for example they review regulatory reports, clinical audits, incident trends, new policies, quality initiatives, complaints/ compliments.
An independent voluntary hospital governed by a voluntary Board of Directors, Marymount works closely with the statutory health services, is a section 38 organisation under the Health Act 2004 and a registered charity.
Its origins date back to 1870 with its foundation by the Religious Sisters of Charity in Cork. The original hospital was built on the north side of the city on Wellington Road. The service relocated in 2011 to purpose-built, modern, high-quality facilities in Curraheen, Cork.
As the specialist palliative care service for Cork city and county, Marymount Hospice serves as a centre for co-ordinating the delivery of palliative care services across all care settings in Cork. Our services include a 44-bed in-patient unit, a day care service (day hospice), an out-patient department, community-based services and bereavement and family support services. For older people, Marymount Hospital provides long-term care, respite and palliative care support services.