The Frank Hayes Memorial Event – Fergal Keane, Sally Hayden, Mick Lynch & Bozena Cierlik
Date: Saturday 30th May 2026
Venue: Listowel Arms Hotel Main Room
Time: 12 PM
The Looming Storm
With the rise of authoritarianism and intolerance across the world should we fear for the future of democracy? Foreign correspondent Fergal Keane leads a panel of expert voices from the worlds of academia, journalism and social activism to discuss the great challenge of our age.
Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist, photographer and author. She is an international correspondent for the?Irish Times?and has reported all over the world for an array of outlets. Her first book,?My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route?–won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
Trade unionist Mick Lynch was general secretary of RMT from 2021-2025. One year into his tenure, the UK’s first national railway strike since 1989 catapulted him into the public eye. He quickly became the face of a revitalised trade union movement and became the combative, unapologetic working-class leader and icon the British left had been missing.
Dr Bozena Cierlik is a lecturer in Polish and East Central European history in the School of History, UCC. Her research is focused on modern Polish history, especially issues of nation building and nationalism. She has served as an expert evaluator for the European Commission in key programmes on the human-computer interface and the challenges of the enlargement of the European Union.