Music Generation National Development Office

Rosaleen Molloy

National Director

Rosaleen Molloy is the National Director of Music Generation and has over 25 years’ experience working in the arts and cultural sector in Ireland across local government, non-profit and social entrepreneurship arenas. Rosaleen was appointed the first National Director to Music Generation in 2010. During that time, she has led the organisation from start-up and scaled it into a successful and sustainable multi-million-euro national programme that gives thousands of children and young people access to music education. She has extensive experience of brokering successful strategic partnerships across philanthropy (U2, The Ireland Funds, Bank of America, Stavros Niarchos Foundation), central government (Department of Education, The Arts Council, Creative Ireland) local statutory agencies (Education and Training Boards, Local Authorities) and local communities.


Previous strategic leadership roles include Wexford County Council Arts Officer, Director of County Wexford Education & Cultural Programmes and Director of Arts in the Classroom. An honours graduate of the Music and Education Departments of University College Cork, Rosaleen was the first Irish person to be awarded Artist Teacher and Master Teacher Certification from the Choral Music Experience Institute, USA. A lifelong learner, recent professional development initiatives include Harvard Business School Fellowship in Non-Profit Leadership and MSc Pathway from UCD Smurfit Business School. Rosaleen was recently appointed by the Minister for Culture to the Culture Ireland Expert Advisory Group.

Cathriona Grange

Operations Manager

Cathriona is an experienced project and office manager with many years management experience in a variety of voluntary and private sector positions, including afterschool programmes, nursery services, child and family centres, and facilities management.

Cathriona spent almost 20 years working in Social Care roles which have included all age groups of children and young people.

Cathriona’s qualifications include a Diploma in Social Care from DIT (now TU Dublin), a Post Grad Diploma in Management (for Pastoral and Voluntary Services) from All Hallows College, in conjunction with DCU and DePaul University, Chicago, a NEBOSH certificate in Health and Safety Management, and a QQI Certificate in Project Management.

Cathriona is a member of Diva Voces choir, an award winning four-part female voice choir based in Dublin city, which now regularly performs on Culture Night as well as in various concerts and choral festivals.

Cathriona is also an amateur piano and guitar player, who started piano lessons at a young age and completed grade 8 piano with RIAM. Cathriona has a love of a variety of musical genres, in particular of musical theatre.

Helen Grant

Finance Manager

Helen Grant as Finance Manager is responsible for developing, maintaining effective accounting/budgeting procedures and producing management accounts/reports. Helen, who is CPA qualified has over ten years’ experience in Finance. Prior to joining Music Generation, Helen worked with various different companies, from service to manufacturing and from medium to large multinational corporations.

Mairéad Duffy

Quality, Support and Development Manager

Mairéad Duffy graduated from the University of Ulster with a BMus Hons and a PGCE in Music Education. During her university years in Belfast she was a member of the Belfast Harp Orchestra, who recorded and toured with The Chieftains. She was the featured vocalist in many of these performances, performing at Milwaukee Irish Fest and Carnegie Hall. She won the Nancy Calthorpe Memorial Prize for Irish Harp and Voice at Dublin Feis Ceoil.

Mairéad has studied choral conducting with Dr Doreen Rao, holding an Artist Teacher Diploma in Choral Music Education with Choral Music Experience. She returned to Carnegie Hall in January 2016 with members of the Senior Choir of St. Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon to perform in Karl Jenkins’ The Peacemakers. She is a past chair of TOSINI-Teachers of Singing in Ireland and is in great demand as a vocal coach/leader and musical director. She is artistic and musical director of Gathered Voices, a community choir based in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.

Following a successful fundit campaign and support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland she released her debut album ‘Silver Tin House’ as a singer songwriter in 2016. Mairéad is currently on a career break from St. Patrick’s Academy where she has been Head of Music for the past twenty-four years. This career break has enabled her to become the Music Development Officer for Music Generation Cavan/Monaghan from January 2019 to December 2020. She has extended her career break to pursue the role of LMEP Support Manager with Music Generation National Development Office.

Helen Shyne

Strategic Communications and Marketing Manager

Helen Shyne has over 10 years experience working within music education in the UK and Ireland in areas such as finance, project management, education, quality, and marketing. Before joining Music Generation, she worked with BIMM Institute promoting third level music education nationally and internationally with a key mission to inspire and excite young people about a sustainable career in the creative arts.

Helen completed an MSc. in Digital Marketing & Data Analytics at Technological University Dublin and has a keen interest in insight-led market research. She has worked on a consultancy basis creating successful campaigns for companies within B2C, B2B, not-for-profit, hospitality and e-commerce sectors.

Helen continues to teach piano and music theory and holds a BA(Hons) in Music from Trinity College Dublin where she specialised in composition under Donnacha Dennehy. She loves ballet and modern dance and is looking forward to the return of live events. She’s excited to be part of the Music Generation team as it continues to create and develop innovative musical experiences for children and young people.

Paul Markey

Administration Officer

Paul Markey holds a BA (Hons) in Applied Music (specialism in composition) and a Level 7 Higher Certificate in Digital Marketing. Before joining Music Generation National Development Office he held the role of Administrator with Music Generation Cavan / Monaghan, assisting in the establishment of performance music education programmes in the region.

Previous to this, Paul was co-founder and co-director of an arts events organisation based in Co. Monaghan which created and managed a series of initiatives such a multi-disciplinary arts festival, concerts, arts exhibitions, poetry readings, an artist’s representative body and fundraising for local charitable causes - all in a community setting.

Paul is an accomplished bassist and songwriter who currently works with several original artists, musical societies and wedding bands. He is passionate about promoting performance music education and creating performance opportunities for children and young people in all genres of music.

Rebecca Murphy

Communications & Marketing Officer

Rebecca Murphy has over 12 years of experience in music education in the fields of teaching, event & programme management and digital marketing. Immersed in Music Generation since 2012, she taught violin in primary schools with Music Generation Wicklow and worked as Hubs Manager and Digital Coordinator in Music Generation South Dublin since 2015. Passionate about music education, she has created a Department of Education approved online, summer music course for primary school teachers in partnership with Mayo Education Centre.


Since 2015, Rebecca has held digital marketing roles for South Dublin County Council Arts Office, Cruinniú na nÓg, Culture Night & Indie-pop musician Cat Dowling. She was the Programme Manager for the 2021 Local Live Performance Support Scheme for South Dublin County which supported & promoted live outdoor events in Tallaght Stadium, Rathfarnham Castle Park and 44 other local venues/locations.


Rebecca studied Digital Marketing at Griffith College, Dublin and looks forward to bringing her skills in digital strategy, content creation and SEO to her role as Communications and Marketing Officer with Music Generation’s National Development Office.

Margaret O'Sullivan

Head of Quality, Support and Development

Margaret O’Sullivan is Head of Quality, Support and Development with Music Generation. Widely known as Mags, she is a graduate of UCC with a B.Mus., (1992), a diploma in International Development Studies (2010), and a Masters in Research supported by a research grant from Cork ETB (2015), and of University of Galway with a postgraduate diploma in Arts Management (1993).

She is completing a PhD in Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), supported by UBC International Tuition and Faculty of Education funding, for which she was awarded the NUI Denis Phelan Travelling Studentship in 2016, and UBC’s Allen Clingman Memorial Prize for outstanding graduate work in music education. Her scholarly inquiry into quality in music education is inspired by her work with Cork City Music Education Partnership for over 10 years as Music Development Officer with Music Generation Cork City, working in partnership with community music education organisations to provide music making and learning opportunities for children and young people at risk of exclusion from participation. Her research is grounded in practice, focusing on the voice of musician educators, practitioners, and of children and young people, in combination with reflexive inquiry into her own experience as a lifelong music learner and learning from practice over a thirty-year career in cultural management and arts education in Ireland.

Margaret has held senior music and arts roles including Music Programme Manager for Cork 2005: European Capital of Culture (2004-5); CEO of the Association of Irish Choirs (now Sing Ireland) (2000-2004), Performing Arts Coordinator of the Irish World Academy of Music & Dance at the University of Limerick (1995-2000), and first Education Officer with Galway Arts Centre (1993-1995). She has taught in a variety of contexts including as a sessional lecturer in music education in UBC, has presented at music education conferences in Canada, Norway, Greece, the UK, Ireland and the USA, and has published research papers and book chapters in the field. She continues to pursue music making and learning in her own time, including piano, traditional flute and concertina.