“I will continue to carry the torch until victims and survivors have been heard and their rights fulfilled.”
Dignity4Patients, the patient advocacy and support organisation advocating and supporting people who have suffered sexual assault or inappropriate sexual behaviour whilst a patient in a medical or therapeutic setting, has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer.
Adrienne Reilly, a native of Drogheda, succeeds Bernadette Sullivan, who founded the organisation in 2008. Bernadette retired for her position as Executive Director earlier this year.
Adrienne trained in human rights law and has spent the past 20 years working in various roles as a human rights legal expert. Most recently she worked as an advocacy case worker with the Pat Finucane Centre, Belfast, which supports over 250 victims and survivors on legacy issues.
She has held various high level research roles in Northern Ireland including at the Northern Ireland Assembly and Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute. Adrienne also spent two years in Hanoi, Vietnam, working with victims and survivors of trafficking and on gender and human rights issues at various United Nations Agencies.
From 2013-2015 she was one of two researchers in the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry and has extensive inquiry experience, having worked for the Legacy Unit of the Corners Service, looking at outstanding Inquests from the Northern Ireland conflict. It was however, in her native Drogheda in the early 1990s that Adrienne cut her teeth in the legal arena when she worked for Sheila Cooney in the law firm Patrick Tallan and Company.
Welcoming Ms. Reilly to Dignity4Patients, its chairperson Paul Murphy said that she was joining the organisation at a crucial time when over 300 victims of sexual abuse are in need of advocacy and support as they struggle to cope with legacy issues arising out of their experiences when they were young people. The organisation, which is supported by the HSE, the Department of Justice and private donations, looks forward to the future with confidence.
He paid tribute to Ms. Sullivan who had founded the organisation and worked tirelessly in the interests of the victims of sexual abuse over many years saying: “Bernadette is a person who brought the issue of sexual abuse to the forefront of national debate, often against tremendous odds, including official indifference.
“Her goal of bringing about a badly-needed public inquiry into how systematic sexual abuse was allowed to happen has not yet been met but the organisation will continue to press for that inquiry”.
Commenting on her appointment, Ms. Reilly said that she is “Delighted to be able to bring her 20 years of experience into an essential advocacy and support service for victims and survivors at Dignity4Patients.”
She said that she is “Very much looking forward to leading the organisation to the next critical stage” noting that “this work is far from over and thanks to the hard and difficult graft of individuals like Bernadette Sullivan, a light is still being shone on the work that remains to be done, as recent revelations of abuse of vulnerable adults during the pandemic have shown.”
Adrienne added that she will “continue to carry the torch until victims and survivors are satisfied that they have been heard and that their rights have been fulfilled.”
Dignity4Patients also welcomed into its ranks its newly-appointed Support and Advocacy Officer Pat Murphy who brings a wealth of experience with him. Also on the staff of D4P is Operations Manager Philip O’Donoghue.
Dignity4Patients can be contacted on 041-9843730 or 086 1654 1111 or on email at support@dignity4patients.org D4P offices are open Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
