Ruairí McKiernan

Ruairí McKiernan; born 17 December 1977 in Cootehill, County Cavan, Ireland), is an Irish social entrepreneur and campaigner on youth, community, health and social issues. In 2012 he was appointed to the Irish Council of State by President Michael D. Higgins.^[1]

In 2004 McKiernan founded the SpunOut.ie national youth organisation in Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He was CEO there until October 2011. McKiernan was a co-founder of the Possibilities civic engagement initiative, which hosted the Dalai Lama's 2011 visit to Ireland.^[2] He is also a co-founder of Uplift, a new Irish campaigning organisation.

He is the recipient of a several awards including a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland award, an Irish Internet Association Net Visionary Award, and a Junior Chambers International Ireland award.^[3] In 2013 he was awarded a European Next Generation Leadership scholarship by the Korea Foundation.

McKiernan is a regular contributor to media outlets including the Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Irish Examiner, RTÉ TV and radio, TV3, the BBC, and the Huffington Post. He was involved as a board member of the We The Citizens initiative^[4] and was appointed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to the voluntary board of Gaisce – the President's Award. He also volunteers on the board of the Soar Foundation. McKiernan received a BA with distinction in Business and Management with HR from the University of the West of Scotland and later worked as a youth worker, web designer, researcher, and community organiser.^[5] In 2013 he completed a "Hitching for Hope" tour to listen to the voices and visions of the people of Ireland.^[6] McKiernan now runs a social innovations consultancy firm with clients in Ireland and overseas.

References

Further reading

• Profile in One Wild Life, book on global change makers by Clare Mulvaney, pp 33–37. ISBN 978-1905172887

External links

• http://www.ruairimckiernan.com/ – official website