Update January 2006

Some changes have taken place in the EUD secretariat over the past weeks/months; Craig CROWLEY departed from EUD at the end of November 2005.

EUD has found an interim replacement for this coming year. She is Mairead O’Leary who hails from Ireland but has been living in Belgium for the past six years. Mairead has a long history of professional experience in the social sector starting in Dublin in 1992 and which brought her to Brussels in 1999. She is very familiar with the functioning of EU institutions, lobbying, public affairs and sources of funding.

Mairead can be contacted on mairead@eudnet.org.

Dear EUD members,

It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. My name is Mairead, a name that most of you are probably not too familiar with, but when put with my family name, O’Leary, my origins cannot be mistaken for anything but Irish!

I am very proud and honoured to be Director of the EUD over the coming months. It is important that the progress made by EUD to date be further built on to ensure full citizenship for Deaf people throughout Europe. I can assure you of my commitment to this objective.

I am very excited about our approaching general seminar in Austria this May. I hope it will be the occasion on which I can meet you. In the meantime, I welcome any thoughts or ideas you may have on developing the secretariat in Gent. I look forward to collaborating closely with you and please know that I am at your disposal.