Norah Gibbons (6 June 1952 – 8 April 2020), was the Director of Advocacy at Barnardos, Director and chair of Alcohol Action Ireland and was selected to be on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.^[1] Gibbons was the first chair of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (Tusla). Gibbons trained as a social worker completing her degree with University College Galway in 1973 and completing a Higher Diploma in Education in 1974.^[2] She joined Barnardos in the 1990s. She remained in the management there going on to have responsibilities for the children's services until she served as a director of advocacy for the charity from 2005 until 2012.^[3] She was the founding chair of Tusla from 2014 until 2018 as well as a member of the commission to inquire into child abuse. She co-chaired the Independent Child Death Review. She was appointed the independent specialist on the in-depth research study on familicide and domestic homicide.^[4] Gibbons also worked as the independent chairwoman for the Northern Ireland Executive’s working group on child abuse until she had to resign due to ill health.^[5] Her career was to advocate for the rights of children. She died on 8 April 2020.^[6][7][8]

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