Deputy Cathal Crowe, TD:  Cathal is Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth, the Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Aviation and Logistics and a TD for Clare. Cathal has been involved in politics since his youth and was first elected at the age of 21 to Clare County Council – the youngest councillor in the country at that time. Cathal retained his seat right up until his election to Dáil Éireann in February 2020, at which point he was serving as Cathaoirleach (Mayor) of Clare. A strong advocate for sustainable rural development, Cathal is also a passionate historian and worked for many years as a primary school teacher.

Kirsten Baltazar: Kristen is a recent psychology graduate with a deep fascination with addressing social and mental health challenges. Her areas of interest are social psychology and mental health promotion. In Kristen’s references, she draws on the Tagalog word “Kapwa”, which expresses the idea that “you and I are inherently interconnected. She says that she studied psychology because she feels an inherent duty to serve others, and by connection, the world we live in.  Kirsten's curiosity to explore the world and achieve a holistic understanding of it led her to create her project, The Good Mind Guide, as a participant on STAND's Ideas Collective. Subsequently, Kirsten became a valued and deeply thoughtful member of STAND's Student Advisory Panel. Her intellect, sensitivity and drive towards social justice were pertinent to her insights in STAND's Get Critical Workshop last month. A workshop that asked for feedback on our approach to critical thinking in GCE.

Conor O'Leary: Started working as a Community Education tutor with KWETB in 2012 and has held the role of Community Education Facilitator since 2023, with responsibility for the day-to-day co-ordination and delivery of a substantial programme of Community Education across County Kildare. We have always put groupwork at the centre of our activity and supported our tutors to embrace a Community Education ethos which seeks to meet learners' needs as we find them, but respond meaningfully to those needs. We want to bring learners on a journey from personal development to a deeper awareness of the society around them and ultimately become active citizens. We seek to address the needs of our time, through fostering women's education, combating isolation through building connection and community, embedding a programme of wellness approaches for tutors and groups, and specifically encouraging groups to identify environmental projects around a theme of ‘Saving the Planet Together’ and celebrating that work and now facing the challenge of disinformation.