21 Facts About Don Mullan

Don Mullan was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1956 and attended St Eugene's Primary School, St Joseph's Boys' School, St Patrick's College, Kiltegan, County Wicklow; St Kieran's College, Kilkenny; Ulster Polytechnic; Holy Ghost College, Dublin; and Iona College, New Rochelle, New York.

Don Mullan was Director of AFrI between 1979 and 1993, during which he and his colleagues developed the Great Famine Project.

Don Mullan was one of the first in the Irish world to recognise the approaching 150th anniversary of The Great Famine as "a unique historical moment".

Don Mullan established a "famine walk" in County Mayo, commemorating an actual walk of starving Irish peasants in 1848.

Don Mullan worked for the humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide from 1994 until 1996, during which he visited Rwanda and the refugee camps in Zaire.

Don Mullan worked in Brazil, from 1983 to 1984, during which he organised famine relief to the north-east of the country.

Don Mullan was detained at Johannesburg and refused entry into apartheid South Africa in 1985.

Don Mullan was invited by Archbishop Tutu to attend a symposium on Robben Island in May 1994, the week following the inauguration of President Mandela.

The symposium addressed the future use of Robben Island in a new South Africa and Don Mullan was invited to address the gathering concerning his own work on harnessing the memory of the Great Irish 'Famine' in fighting injustice and oppression today.

In 1996, the late Allo Donnelly, then Chairman of Concern Universal, a UK-based World Development charity wishing to expand into Ireland, approached Mullan and asked him to head up the operation.

Don Mullan was diagnosed with dyslexia in 1994, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association.

Don Mullan has authored and edited several books and documentaries and acted as co-producer and associate producer in three award-winning movies Bloody Sunday Omagh, and Five Minutes of Heaven.

At the age of 15, Don Mullan witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry.

Don Mullan's 1997 best-selling book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as an important catalyst that led to Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision in 1998 to establish a new Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

Don Mullan then apologised on behalf of the British Government.

Amongst the colleges and universities which Don Mullan has spoken at are: Harvard University, Massachusetts, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, Seattle University, Washington and Notre Dame University, Indiana.

Don Mullan travelled all over England in a quest to find a sculptor to help him create the first monument in the Western World to a goalkeeper.

Don Mullan has the ability to breathe life into bronze.

Don Mullan has received Honorary Degrees from Iona College, New Rochelle, New York Mount Aloysius College, Cresson, Pennsylvania and DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois.

On 9 December 2002, Don Mullan received A Defender of Human Dignity Award from the International League for Human Rights at the United Nations, New York.

In May 1990, Don Mullan was made an Honorary Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, an honour he shares with the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson.