Fiach Mac Conghail | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mac Conghail in 2011 | |
| Senator | |
| In office 25 May 2011 – 8 June 2016 | |
| Constituency | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1964-08-04)4 August 1964 (age 61) Dublin, Ireland |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Bríd Ní Neachtain |
| Children | 2 |
Fiach Mac Conghail (born 4 August 1964) is CEO of theDigital Hub Development Agency.[1] He is a former director of theAbbey Theatre from 2005 to 2016.[2] He is a formerSenator from 2011 to 2016 and was appointed by theTaoiseachEnda Kenny.[3][4]
His father,Muiris Mac Conghail, was a filmmaker and broadcaster who served as Government Press Secretary and was Controller of Programmes atRTÉ; his mother is a notedgenealogist. Mac Conghail was raised in the Dublin suburb ofRathgar and attendedColáiste Eoin and laterTrinity College Dublin, where he studied Economics and Politics.[2][5][6]
Mac Conghail was the artistic director at theProject Arts Centre from 1992 to 1999.[7][8] He was the Director of Ireland's participation at theExpo 2000 world fair and acted as Cultural Programme Commissioner during the IrishPresidency of the European Union in 2004.[9] With his brother Cuan, he established the production companyBrother Films in 1996.[5]
Mac Conghail was a special adviser to theMinister for Arts, Sport and TourismJohn O'Donoghue from 2002 to 2005. In 2005, he was appointed as Director of the Abbey Theatre.[10]
When Mac Conghail announced his 2016 programme, "Waking the Nation", for the centennial year of the 1916 Rising, a storm ensued. Only one of the ten plays on the programme was written by a woman and only three directed by women. This sparked a campaign called "Waking the Feminists" to demand gender equality in theatre. Mac Conghail acknowledged that he had "failed to check his privilege".[11]
He was appointed toSeanad Éireann in May 2011 and sat as anindependent. He was the chairman of theWe the Citizens, an initiative that aims to encourage the participation of the public in political affairs.[12][13]
Mac Conghail is married toBríd Ní Neachtain, and they have two daughters.