Board members

Alan Gilsenan - Chair

Alan Gilsenan is an Irish film-maker, writer and theatre director.  His many films include The Road To God Knows Where, The Ghost of Roger Casement, Timbuktu, Eliza Lynch: Queen of Paraguay, A Vision: A Life of WB Yeats, the social documentary series The Asylum, The Hospice, The Home, I See A Darkness and, most recently, the feature films Unless and Meetings with Ivor. 

He is a former Chairman of the Irish Film Institute and has also been a board member of both the Irish Film Board and RTÉ, Ireland’s public service broadcaster. Alan mostly enjoys pottering around and drinking too much coffee but doesn't get enough opportunities to do so.

Terry Devitt

Terry originally qualified as a biochemist but quickly switched to economics and finance. He worked for a number of years as an economic analyst with the Government. From there he moved into stockbroking and after a number of years left to start his own financial services business in partnership with his brother. This business operated for 30 years providing financial advice to individuals, institutions and charities. The business was sold in recent years and Terry stepped away in early 2026.

Roddy Doyle, Co-Founder

Roddy Doyle is the author of 12 novels, including SMILE,THE COMMITMENTS, PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA - for which he won the Booker Prize - and, most recently, LOVE.  He has also written seven books for children, including THE GIGGLER TREATMENT and BRILLIANT. 

He has written for TV, big screen and stage.  He lives and works in Dublin. He has been told that he says ‘I’m only messing’ way too often.

Jennifer Caldwell

Jennifer Caldwell is a solicitor with over 30 years’ experience of corporate law including mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, IPOs, joint ventures and debt and equity financing. She was a joint managing partner of Maples and Calder’s Dublin office and until she retired from practise at the end of 2010 she was head of corporate in the Dublin office.

She sat on the Board of Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland Limited from January 2011 until the end of 2015 and she currently sits on the board of Irish National Opera.

Elaine Feeney

Elaine Feeney is a writer from the west of Ireland. She has published novels, poems, short stories and written for stage and screen. When she was younger, she loved making up stories, and she is  grateful she could make a career out of it.

Elaine started her writing career going to poetry slams and performing poetry in Galway, motivated by a long tradition of political poetry and the oral tradition of  story-telling. She taught in an all boy's secondary school in Tuam for twenty years, and she now teaches at the University of Galway where she co-founded the Tuam Oral History project at the university--a project that aims to recover first-person narratives from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.

She loves Fighting Words because it is inclusive, fun and it is an organisation aware that all voices matter. 

Kieran FitzGerald

Kieran spent many years as a producer and reporter in RTÉ radio and TV, including The Late Late Show, Liveline and Prime Time. He ran his own communications consultancy for seven years and later became Commissioner in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. He holds a doctorate in Governance from Queen’s University Belfast.

Kieran says that he is in awe of the talent, courage and imagination of those who participate in Fighting Words and that, as one of the few people involved who has published almost nothing, he is beginning to suffer from ‘imposter syndrome.’

He says he spends far too much time gazing out to sea thinking shallow thoughts.

Hazel Hogan

Hazel Hogan is a poet, writer, and facilitator from Dublin. Hazel has ten years’ experience of performing poetry. Her poem ‘Grangegorman’ was on the recommended list to be studied as part of the Junior Cert syllabus.She has given workshops to children, adults, and community groups across Ireland. Hazel set up the Ukrainian Creative Hub hosted by the Museum of Literature Ireland.

Most recently Hazel has worked with institutions such as Poetry as Commemoration, IMMA, Poetry Ireland, the Docas Centre and Ballyfermot Partnership to offer workshops to community groups and has worked as a Writer in Residence in several different organisations. Hazel's favourite thing about Fighting Words is meeting young people, having the craic with them, reading their stories, and hearing the gas things they say.

Paul Howard

Paul Howard is the creator of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, the fictional rugby jock who has been the subject of twenty-two novels. He is also the author of 'Triggs - The Autobiography of Roy Keane's Dog', the children's book series, 'Aldrin Adams and the Cheese Nightmares', and the smash-hit stage production 'Copperface Jacks the Musical'.

Paul has never used an emoji and has an opinion on absolutely everything, despite not knowing which of the seven remote controls on his coffee table switches on the TV.

Dr Una McCabe

Dr Una McCabe is an Associate Professor in Drama Education at Dublin City University. She is Programme Chair of the Masters in Arts Education Practice, and was Head of the School of Arts Education and Movement (2022-2026) at DCU.

Una is a member of the National Council forCurriculum and Assessment Primary Arts Education Development Group. Her teaching and research explore the role of drama, play and the arts in learning and development, with a particular focus on creativity, early years education and arts-rich classrooms.

She loves a good story- written, told, performed, sung, played, drawn or in any format that works for the storymaker.

Tony Traynor, Treasurer

Tony Traynor is Managing Director of a multinational investment fund. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and has over 30 years’ experience in financial reporting, corporate governance and risk management.