About Us
Heart Children is the national organisation providing support to people born with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and their families. We work to help people with CHD of all ages to stay well, live confidently and enjoy life to its fullest.
A diagnosis of congenital heart disease, whether received pre-natally, or at birth, presents parents with a different set of life challenges than those they initially expected. The news can be traumatic and it can be hard to understand how and why this has happened.
Heart Children is here to support you as you come to terms with the diagnosis.
Heart Children welcomes you to our CHD community and works to support you and your family’s health and well-being.
We’re with you through your journey.
Our mission
To advocate for and promote the well-being of people born with this condition and their families from the point of pre-natal diagnosis and throughout the person’s lifetime.
Governance & Policies
Heart Children Ireland is a registered charity (CHY No: 10022) which fully subscribes to the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising (ICTR) and operates in full compliance with the Charities Governance Code. The Board monitors compliance on an ongoing basis under the control of the Finance, Audit & Risk (FAR) committee.
Annual Reports & Publications
Board Members
Heart Children is governed by a committed board of parents, people with CHD and other health and business professionals who provide their time on a voluntary basis to guide and advise our organisation.
Claire Adams is the parent of child with CHD and works as Global Events Lead with Meta.
Dympna Donnelly (Treasurer), is the parent of an adult with CHD. She is one of the founding members of Heart Children and returns to the board in retirement to take up the role of treasurer after a long and successful career
as an accountant.
James O'Mahony, originally from Cork but now living in Dublin, was born with CHD and has had two open-heart surgeries. He is an experienced commercial solicitor and brings considerable legal knowledge, and personal experience to the board.
Pearse Corcoran (Secretary), is a communications professional working with 150Bond. He was born in New York and had initial heart surgery in the first days of life. He returned to Ireland as a young child. He was fitted with a pacemaker as a teenager.
Denis O'Connor (Chair), is an adult with CHD. He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot and had his first surgery at age 6. Much later in life, suffered a cardiac arrest while playing squash. Now retired, Denis ran a family stockbroking business from over 25 yrs.
Dr Rachel Power is a Consultant Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology (PEC) working in University Hospital Limerick. She sits as a PEC representative on the board of the All Island CHD Network.
Lisa McAlister is the parent of a teenage son with CHD. She is a HR professional with over 20 years experience in the industry. She currently works in the charity sector, for the Irish Heritage Trust where she has gained considerable knowledge of board governance, compliance and operational issues.
Rhona Savage is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner working at the Adult CHD Unit in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin. Rhona brings her medical and nursing insight to the board helping us to shape developments for adult members.
Veronica Yeomans lost her beloved son, Richard, to CHD in 2013. She runs a busy Montessori and afterschool in Killester, Co Dublin.
