Laura Burke is the Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), appointed in 2011 and served as a Director within the EPA since 2004. As Director General she has the responsibility to lead and strategically manage the EPA. Laura is the Chair of the European Environment Agency (EEA) Management Board. 

Laura is a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) and a member of the High Level Implementation Committee of ‘Food Vision 2030’, the Irish Agri-Food Sector Strategy. Prior to joining the EPA, she worked in the private sector. Laura is a graduate chemical engineer of University College Dublin (UCD), holds an MSc from Trinity College, Dublin, is a Fellow and is a Vice-President of Engineers Ireland and is a Chartered Director. In 2016 Laura was awarded the UCD Engineering Graduates Association (EGA) Distinguished Graduate Award.

Eamon Ryan TD is the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Transport. He was appointed to this role in June 2020.

Eamon Ryan was elected to represent Dublin Bay South in the 2020 general election.

He was born in Dublin and raised in Dundrum and Dartry.

He studied commerce in UCD before taking a job managing a marketing course in the university's School of Business. He went on to found a cycling tourism company - Irish Cycling Safaris - in the late 1980s and in 1996 won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

He was the founding chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and began his political career as a Dublin City Councillor for the Rathgar-Rathmines ward. He then went on to serve both as a TD for Dublin South and as a Government Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

In recent years he has worked for a European climate organisation and chaired the digital policy group in the Institute of International and European Affairs.

He is currently leader of the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas.

Brian Carroll
Assistant Secretary, Department of Environment, Climate & Communications

Brian Carroll is the Assistant Secretary General leading the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. He is responsible for national, EU and international environment policy, including in the areas of climate action, air quality, radiation and environmental awareness, as well as oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Jim Skea is Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London with research interests in energy, climate change and technological innovation. He is Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III. He was Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre 2004-12 and Director of the Policy Studies Institute 1998-2004. He was a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change from 2008 until 2018, and currently chairs Scotland’s Just Transition Commission. Jim Skea has been nominated by the UK Government as its candidate for IPCC Chair.

Mary Frances Rochford is Programme Manager of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Programme. Within her programme Mary Frances has responsibility for the delivery of the National emissions statistics including Greenhouse Gas and Air pollutant inventories and projections, climate change and behavioural insights the National Dialogue on Climate Action, climate adaptation and climate science and international climate engagement.

Dr Frank McGovern is the Chief Climate Scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency and current chair of JPI Climate. He completed his Ph. D. in atmospheric physics in the National University of Ireland, Galway, and has more than 20 years research experience. He leads Ireland’s engagement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is a regular delegate to meetings of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He developed Ireland’s first National Climate Change Research Programme. His main interest is in the science policy and practitioner interface. Through JPI Climate he is leading a pan-European initiative to accelerate the transfer of knowledge from science to policy and actions.

Dr Eamon Haughey is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Natural Resources & the Environment at Atlantic Technological University, Galway. His research interests are centred on sustainable land use and climate change. As part of a postdoctoral research fellowship at Trinity College Dublin, Eamon contributed to the 2019 IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land. More recently he led an EPA-DAFM funded project: Land Use Review: Fluxes Scenarios and Capacity. He holds a PhD in Applied Plant Ecology from University College Dublin (2016) and an MSc in Soil Science from the University of Aberdeen (2011).

Rachael Kelly is the GeoHive Services Manager in the National Mapping Division of Tailte Éireann. Prior to this, she was the Technology Support and Development Team Leader where she led the development of the National Land Cover Map 2018. She holds a BA in Sociology and Geography from Trinity College Dublin and a MSc in GIS and Remote Sensing from NUI Maynooth. Before joining Tailte Éireann 6 years ago, Rachael worked in the private sector on a number of public and private sector projects in Ireland and Australia.

Gavin Smith works with the Environmental Protection Agency as a Scientific Officer within the Evidence Programme’s Analytics Team. A graduate of Maths and Geography from NUI Maynooth with an MSc in Environmental Science from Trinity College, he has work with the EPA for 20 years. Gavin specialises in managing the development of new environmental evidence using earth observation & spatial analysis technology. He is the national lead on the European Environment Agency’s “Land Systems” and “Copernicus Land” groups within their EIONET network.

Gavin was EPA project co-ordinator for the recently delivered National Land Cover Map, developed in partnership with Tailte Éireann, and which he is here today to present to you on.

I am predominately working on the eddy covariance flux data from the DAFM funded National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO), a network of 30 eddy covariance flux towers on mineral, oragno-mineral and peat soils. The NASCO platform quantifies fluxes of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane over different land-uses (grassland, cropland, peatland etc.) and agricultural systems (dairy, beef, sheep and arable). The principal aim of my work is to utilize the NASCO flux data to help refine the national greenhouse gas inventory for carbon emissions from agricultural soils. Other projects I am currently involved in include:

Carbosol - Quantification of the impact of agricultural management on the carbon balance from organic and organo-mineral soils.

GRADIENT - Assessing the role of multi species Grassland Swards on Climate Mitigation, water quality and productivity in Ireland.

ADAPTForRes - Adaptation, mitigation and protection strategies to increase resilience of Irish forests to address the impacts of climate change.

Terrain AI - Understanding the impact of human activity on land use and ultimately, as a driver of climate change for more sustainable land use.

Mark McCorry PhD MCIEEM has been working as an ecologist within Bord na Móna for 14 years and is now Ecology Manager. His main role is planning rehabilitation of Bord na Móna’s cutaway bogs. The past few years have been very busy as Bord na Mona have ceased industrial peat extraction and have transitioned to a Natural Solutions company, with particular focus on developing renewable energy and implementing the Peatland Climate Action Scheme. Mark lives Irish midlands in Co. Laois with his wife and 2 teenage daughters and is also Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland vice-county recorder for Laois.

Director, Office of Evidence and Assessment Environmental Protection Agency

Eimear was appointed an EPA Director in 2017. She currently has responsibility for leading EPA’s Climate, Water and Evidence Programmes. She holds a BA (Mod) in chemistry from Trinity College Dublin, a PhD in atmospheric chemistry from Oxford University and an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She is a 2019 Eisenhower Fellow.

Thomas Ryan is Head of Agri-Sustainability and Customer Engagement at Tirlán, collaborating with colleagues and farm family suppliers in the design and delivery of the Co-op’s sustainability strategy called Living Proof. A graduate of UCD, TU Dublin and the Irish Management Institute, he has degrees in Agricultural Science and Property Studies, and diplomas in Business Management and Corporate Governance.

He previously worked with the Irish Farmers’ Association and Kerry Group plc, serving as Director and Company Secretary of two recycling organisations. He was also Programme Manager of the resource efficiency initiative, Smart Farming in collaboration with the EPA, receiving the inaugural RDS Talamh sustainability award.

He is an associate member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland and a member of the Agricultural Science Association and Irish Environmental Law Association.

Paul O’Brien was elected Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Environment and Rural Affairs committee in 2020. He is from Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny where he runs a sheep and tillage enterprise. He is married to Carol and has three children Conor, Daire, and Aine. Paul has been involved in the Irish Farmers’ Association over the past 20 years holding various positions.

Current Positions Held:

• Vice Chair Copa-Cogeca Working Party on Environment.
• Chair of Taskforce on Biodiversity, Soil and Water.
• Chair IFA Environment and Rural Affairs committee
• IFA Smart Farming Programme Leader
• Member of An Forum Uisce (The Water Forum)
• Member of the National Pesticides and Drinking Water Action Group (NPDWAG)
• Farmer Representative on the Fertiliser Association of Ireland (FAI) council
• Member of the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) committee
• Member of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) stakeholder group
• IFA Bord na Mona Working group member
• Member of Greenway stakeholder group

Fran is the Southern Regional Coordinator with the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) in Ireland. LAWPRO is a Local Authority shared service working with local communities, relevant stakeholders including industry and state agencies to support and implement River Basin Management Plans in Ireland, as required under the EU Water Framework Directive. This involves a multidisciplinary approach to integrated catchment management, from agency networks and coordination, community outreach and animation, citizen science, river restoration, and promoting good environmental stewardship amongst all stakeholders. The work includes coordination of Regional Operational Committees, catchment science, development and promotion of best practice, nature-based solutions and initiatives to protect and restore water quality. He is the LAWPRO lead on Nature-based solutions with a current focus on interventions in the urban setting. Previously Fran was the lead in the development of the large scale catchment based programmes MulkearLIFE, DuhallowLIFE (SAMOK 09) and RaptorLIFE working with farmers and other stakeholders to deliver nature-based solutions. He also worked with Inland Fisheries Ireland for 15 years, in river restoration, research, catchment management and enforcement and was the lead author in the IFI Guidelines for PLANNING FOR WATERCOURSES IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT. He holds a Ph-D in Zoology.

Darragh McCullough runs a mixed farm at Elmgrove Farm on the Meath coast. The main enterprises are cut flowers and bulbs, which are sold nationally and internationally. Dairy, cereals, and Christmas trees are also part of the mix.

Darragh also writes a weekly column for the Irish Independent, and has presented RTE's Ear to the Ground programme for the last 21 years. He studied Agricultural Science in UCD and wrote an award winning children's book about....farming!