KAREN MCHUGH

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Karen has worked in human rights and social justice throughout her career and has led Safe Home Ireland since 2015, bringing extensive experience in not-for-profit leadership, strategic development, and project management. Her work spans the migrant sector, including supporting the Irish community in London, new communities in Ireland, and returning Irish.

She has held several senior roles and is proud of her many achievements, including Director of BIAS (Irish Centre in London), where she set up a separate Travellers Project that is now an independent national charity, The Traveller Movement; in Ireland, working with St. Vincent de Paul to establish the first Visitors Centre in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, Co. Laois; and CEO of Doras in Limerick, where she oversaw two Syrian Resettlement Projects (in Laois and Wexford) and managed several European-funded projects. As a founding member and recently stepped-down Chair of the Laois Integration Network, she continues to contribute through voluntary work supporting migrant integration in Laois.

A returned emigrant herself, Karen brings personal insight into the challenges and complexities of returning, as well as the powerful emotional pull of “coming home for good.” On a lighter note, she owns two rescue dogs, who are often heard barking in her home office and frequently make themselves known in virtual meetings too!