UCD School of Sociology

Biography:

Originally from County Clare, I moved to Dublin in 1988. After my primary degree I worked in North America as a long-distance truck driver before returning to Dublin to work with a publishing company in 1995. My PhD research was carried out 1997-2000 and the final Thesis was passed without any amendments in Spring 2001. Since then I worked as a lecturer in Geography and Sociology in Trinity College Dublin for five years before joining the School of Sociology in University College Dublin. Over the years I have also been closely involved with community action in disadvantaged communities in Dublin both through action research and voluntary consultancy. More recently, I have worked with the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice on housing issues from social justice and social theology perspectives. I am actively engaged with Tenants First, a cross-city network of local authority tenants' associations and anti-poverty groups working on housing and regeneration issues.  I am also the Chair of the Parish Pastoral council of Gardiner Street Parish. My main interests otherwise include sport and (playing/listening to) music. I am a long-suffering supporter of Clare hurling, the gunners and Bohemians FC (my local club), and I have a keen interest in many forms of slightly left-of-field music genres, including folk/alternative/acoustic/jazz, among others: Sigur Ros, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Richmond Fontaine, Charlie Haden, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Damien Jurado, Jim White, Horse Feathers, Mary Gauthier, Thomas Denver Jonsson, Brad Mehldau, Joseph Arthur, Slint, Patti Griffin, Sufjan Stevens, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Coltrane, Loney Dear etc.