The Executive Board of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is assisted by an Advisory Committee of twelve members, nominated by prescribed organisations and appointed by the Minister for Environment, Climate Action and Communications. The Director General of the EPA is, ex officio, a member and Chairperson of the Committee. The term of office of the Committee is three years.
The Advisory Committee has a wide range of advisory functions under the EPA Act, including making recommendations to the EPA, or the Minister, relating to the functions of the EPA.
Aleesha Wiegandt is a youth worker with YMCA Ireland, working in the areas of Youth Information, Global Youth Work and Youth Advocacy. She has been a social and environmental activist since 2016. Both as a participant and then as a facilitator, she has used digital media tools to platform young people’s opinions on Climate issues. She has sat on the YMCA Ireland Global Justice and International Development Committee, which informs the board of the organisation, for six years, playing a central role in organising Climate related talks and communicating policy to relevant stakeholders. Outside of the YMCA, she has hosted a number of events in university settings on the effects of the Climate Crisis on the mental wellbeing of young people.
Jerry Mac Evilly is Head of Policy in Friends of the Earth where he manages research, advocacy and stakeholder engagement in support of campaigns on energy efficiency, fossil fuel phase-out and climate action. Jerry has over 15 years' experience in developing, researching and influencing policy in both the government and Not-For-Profit sectors. Previously he held policy positions in the Oireachtas, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the CRU, as well as Trócaire and Self Help Africa. He also ran his own consultancy specialising in policy research and communication and supported several NGOs, including Concern Worldwide and the Mary Robinson Foundation. Jerry is a member of Ireland’s National Economic and Social Council, EirGrid’s National Advisory Committee, as well as the Monitoring Committee for Ireland's EU Just Transition Fund Programme. He has a Masters in history (TCD, 2007) and a BA in history and Italian (UCD, 2006), with qualifications in management, EU policy, and human rights law.
Professor Frances Lucy is Head of the Department of Environmental Science and Director of CERIS, the Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability at the Institute of Technology, Sligo. She is a former chairperson and current council member of the Environmental Sciences Association of Ireland. Her main research interests are in aquatic invasive species, fisheries science, water quality and sustainability. Frances is a Board Member of Inland Fisheries Ireland. She is president of Invasivesnet and is also involved in environmental research nationally and with European partners.
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Dr Conor Talbot hails from Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim, but now lives in Luxembourg where he works for the European Investment Bank Group. His background is as a lawyer, qualifying as a solicitor in a Dublin commercial law firm and earning a PhD in EU law from the European University Institute (Florence, 2016). As part of the EIB Group’s transition to become the EU’s Climate Bank, Conor was the project manager of the European Investment Fund’s strategic impact measurement project, which used data science techniques to estimate the environmental, economic and social impact associated with large portfolios of SME investments. He is a Certified Expert in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance (Frankfurt, 2020) and is a member of the Luxembourgish Conseil National pour Étrangers and the editorial board of the Irish Journal of European Law.
Aebhín Cawley is Managing Director of ecological consultancy Scott Cawley. She has been undertaking ecological surveying and impact assessment work in Ireland since 2002 and during that time has been assisting public and private sector organisations comply with legislation protecting biodiversity, in particular the Habitats and EIA Directives. She provides training to public sector organisations on biodiversity generally and more specifically on Appropriate Assessment. She holds a degree in Zoology from Trinity College, Dublin and a postgraduate diploma in Physical Planning at Trinity. She is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with the Society for the Environment (Soc Env). She is a Full Member of the CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management) and is the vice-convenor for its Irish geographic section. She served as the Environmental Pillar’s nominee to the Board of the Ballymun Whitehall Area Partnership between 2010 and 2013.
Dr. Cathal Gallagher has 30 years of experience in various roles in the public and private sector. As the Head of Research and Development, over the past 16 years, Cathal has led a team of researchers that focus on the development of an evidence base, to support management and policy development, directed and the conservation and protection of Ireland’s fish species and the habitat they occupy. He works across agencies and government departments to support Ireland’s efforts in delivery of commitments associated with the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Habitats Directive, national biodiversity plans among other environmental conservation programmes. He is passionate about the delivery of research and policy, to mitigate against the challenges that we face in the management of our shared natural inland fisheries environment. He is an active member of several national steering and advisory committees, working closely with various state agencies, government departments and stakeholders in addressing the challenges relating to conservation, protection and management of our natural eco-systems.
Cathal has international organisational experience having acted as Chair of European Inland Fisheries Advisory and Aquaculture Commission (EIFAAC), which is a regional fisheries organisation (38 country members) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, where he worked to support the development and implementation of a new organisational strategy. He represents the EU on the International Atlantic Salmon Research Board and Chairs the NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation) jurisdictional salmon conservation Implementation Plan (IP) review committee. Cathal acts as Chair of the North South Standing Scientific Committee on Inland Fish a body supported by the North South Ministerial Council. He is also a member of the Northern Ireland Drainage Council where he acts as an expert advisor.
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Ali Sheridan is a highly experienced and committed sustainability practitioner and has spent over 15 years working across the public, private, and civil society sectors with a key focus on integrity, accountability, and implementation of credible climate and nature transition plans. She has held a diverse range of climate leadership positions and supported the development and growth of numerous programmes including the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, the IKEA People and Planet programme, Origin Green, and the Green-Schools programme.
Ali has lectured and designed climate curriculum modules for a number of universities in Ireland and sits on several working groups including Codema’s Zero Together Transition Team for Dublin, the Advisory Board of the DCU Centre for Climate & Society and is a Board Member of Common Knowledge. She holds a MSc Business Sustainability, a MSc Management for Sustainable Development, and a BSc Environmental Management.
Aisling Ryan is an award-winning global strategist and sustainability adviser. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she has over 25 years’ experience in sustainability strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications for international blue-chip clients including GSK, Nestlé, P&G, and Unilever. Aisling is a trusted board, executive and government adviser and an established speaker on sustainability, climate action and just transition at Davos, UNGA, COP and Cannes. She brokers industry leading partnerships between corporates, governments, and civil society. Aisling founded Ogilvy Consulting’s global sustainability practice. She advised Nestlé on its global sustainability strategy, developed United Nations’ ACT NOW climate action campaign, and pioneered The People’s Seat for UNFCCC with Sir David Attenborough at COP24. She led WPP’s partnership with United Nations and created #JoinTheHerd, a mass global lobby movement to stop the ivory trade. She served on BITC’s Place Leadership Taskforce in the UK and is a non-executive director at CSL in Zambia.
Mark Christal is the Manager of the Food and Sustainability division within Enterprise Ireland with responsibility for working with Irish and foreign owned Food and Drinks companies to support them in key business areas including Innovation, Competitiveness, Leadership and Management development. He is also responsible for the leading Enterprise Irelands Sustainability and Climate Action agenda with client companies.
In his previous role Mark led the Regions and Entrepreneurship division in Enterprise Ireland responsible for the regional enterprise development agenda and to support the growth of regional SME companies. His responsibilities included leading Enterprise Irelands engagement with the Local Enterprise Offices.
Prior to this role Mark managed the Primary Meats and Food Technology department in Enterprise Ireland responsible for working with client companies in the sector and also led the Client Management Development & Client Skills department within Enterprise Ireland, responsible for driving the leadership and management capabilities within Irish-owned companies, to help them compete for, and win, global sales. Mark previously had responsibility for eight years for
Human Resource Management within Enterprise Ireland. In this role, in addition to his HR responsibilities, Mark led the review and development of several major change programmes within Enterprise Ireland. Mark is a member of the Enterprise Ireland Senior Leadership Executive team.
Mark is a Masters graduate of University College Dublin and also holds an MBS in Human Resource Management from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
Mark is from Dublin and is married with three young children.
Dr Niamh Lynam-Lennon is a Research Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator at Trinity College Dublin, where she works in the area of chemoradiation therapy resistance in gastrointestinal cancers. She is the current Treasurer of the Irish Radiation Research Society. She leads a research team focused on two main areas; prediction of response to therapy and identification of novel treatment strategies to enhance the tumour response to therapy, with the ultimate goal of improving treatment and survival for patients. Dr Lynam-Lennon’s work has resulted in a number of important publications and she has received several prestigious awards such as a Health Research Board-funded Emerging Investigator Grant Award 2017, Roche Researcher of the Year Award 2010, Irish Radiation Research Society Young Investigator Award 2013 and European Association for Cancer Research Young Scientist Award (Junior Award) 2014, for her work. Her research is funded by grants from the Health Research Board, Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Research Council.
Approved minutes of all meetings of the EPA Advisory Committee.
View the Seventh Advisory Committee's Report to the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications.
