Nora Owen is Vice Chair of the Board of Concern Worldwide, having served as a member since 2003.
She is a former politician with a long and distinguished career spanning more than two decades. She entered politics in 1979 and was elected as a Fine Gael public representative (TD) for Dublin North for the first time in 1981.
Nora held the office of Minister for Justice from 1994 to 1997 and served as Deputy Leader of her party from 1993 to 2001. Her political career also involved chairing the Parliamentary Overseas Aid Committee and being a spokesperson in opposition on health, overseas aid, foreign affairs, enterprise and employment, as well as acting as Vice-Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
She spent time in Rwanda as a volunteer with Concern in 1994 and has taken part in parliamentary training in Africa with AWEPA, and in Latvia, Romania, Cambodia, Philippines, Afghanistan and Tanzania/Zanzibar with NDI (USA).
Nora is a regular contributor to political and current affairs programmes and she was a presenter of TV3’s topical programme Midweek.
Nora was also Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Development Aid reporting to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and is now Chair of the Women, Peace and Security Oversight Group, as well as serving as one of the Vice-Presidents of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).