Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin

Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin emerged from the small village of Carnacon in County Mayo, where her teacher parents filled the home with learning and her father led the local national school. She is the eldest of six children with five brothers, grew up speaking both English and Irish, and carried that bilingual clarity into university and public life. The village did not warn her away from ambition; it gave her a steady foundation for becoming a lecturer, researcher, broadcaster and chair of a national biodiversity forum.