New Director Joins the Board of the Environmental Protection Agency

Date released: March 24, 2026

24 March 2026.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Roni Hawe to the EPA Board. Roni will take up her new position as Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence & Assessment with immediate effect. 

Dr Eimear Cotter, Director General of the EPA, welcomed Roni onto the Board, where she joins fellow Directors Dr Tom Ryan (Office of Environmental Enforcement), David Flynn (Office of Environmental Sustainability), Darragh Page (Office of Communications and Corporate Services) and Patrick Byrne (Office of Radiation Protection & Environmental Monitoring). 

Roni has over twenty years’ experience in environmental governance, marine policy and regulatory reform across the public service. Prior to her appointment, Roni served as Programme Manager for Environmental Monitoring & Surveillance, leading the EPA’s national air quality, noise and chemicals monitoring teams and the water and radiation monitoring laboratories.  

Before joining the EPA, Roni held senior roles in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, where she led capital investment programmes across Ireland’s coastal and sea-fisheries infrastructure, and developed policy on co-existence with offshore renewable energy, climate action and marine planning. 

Roni holds a BSc in Earth Sciences (UCC) and an MSc in Applied Remote Sensing & GIS (Maynooth University) and is undertaking an Executive MBA (UCC). 

Further information: Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office:  053-91 70770 (24 hours) and media@epa.ie 

 Notes to Editor

The Environmental Protection Agency is managed by a full-time Executive Board consisting of a Director General and five Directors. A Director of the EPA is a full-time executive position, with a five-year term of office. Appointment of Director of the EPA by Government follows from a recommendation made by an independent selection committee convened in accordance with the EPA Act, 1992.  The independent selection committee conducts a public recruitment competition to select candidates suitable for recommendations to Government.