Dr Eimear Cotter was appointed Director in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2017. Within the EPA, she is Director of the Office of Evidence and Assessment and has responsibility for the Climate Change, Water and Evidence Programmes. She holds a BA in Science from Trinity College Dublin, a Ph.D from Oxford University and an MBA from UCD’s Smurfit Business School.

Dr Matt Crowe is currently chair of An Foram Uisce - the National Water Forum. He retired in 2020 from the EPA having served for 10 years as a Director and 15 years as a member of staff. Prior to joining the EPA, Matt spent five years working in Vancouver doing contract research. Matt holds a BSc and PhD in biochemistry from UCD.

Niall Gleeson is Chief Executive Officer of Uisce Éireann, the national utility responsible for providing public water and wastewater services throughout Ireland. Niall leads the organisation in the delivery of safe, clean and environmentally compliant water services to households and businesses across Ireland. He has been instrumental in driving Uisce Éireann’s safety, sustainability and employee engagement strategies and in 2021 led the organisation in securing the provision of an historic €1.1 billion in capital investment funding, which is vital to developing Ireland’s critical water services infrastructure, protecting public health and supporting social and economic development. Prior to joining Uisce Éireann, Niall was Managing Director for Veolia Ireland and Alstom Ireland and held a number of senior leadership roles with world-leading infrastructure companies including General Electric and Shanahan Engineering. He has significant experience in the finance, construction, commissioning and maintenance of transport and utility assets, and has led major infrastructure projects across Ireland, the UK and Asia. Raised in Dublin, he holds a degree in engineering from the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Karen Kavanagh is the Director of Networks and Economic Regulation since January 2022 having been appointed as the Director of Economic Regulation (Water) and Compliance in April 2021. Karen has over 20 years’ experience in economic regulation across the utilities and telecommunications sectors. She has a BSc. in Applied Science and a PhD. in Physics from the Technological University Dublin. She also holds an MSc.in Economic Policy Studies from Trinity College Dublin and an Advanced Diploma in Quasi-Judicial Decision-Making from Kings Inns.

Mary Kelly-Quinn is an Associate Professor in the School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin. Her research focuses on assessment of land-use and other anthropogenic activities on the physical, hydrochemical and ecological quality of surface waters with particular reference to multiple stressors and climate change. Among her current projects are SSNet (on small streams), SWAMP (on water quality in degraded peatlands), HYDROSED ( hydrological and sediment impacts of forest operations in Ireland), WaterFutures (future responses of water, ecology and environment to agents of change) and the recently completed ESDecide (freshwater ecosystem services decision support) and RECONNECT (mapping and assessing barrier impacts on rivers) research. She is also collaborating on projects on natural capital accounting in Ireland and further afield with the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and in Kenya with the University of Pwani on water quality issues.

Darragh O’Brien TD is the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He was appointed to this role in June 2020. He is an elected TD for the constituency of Dublin-Fingal. Prior to his election to the 30th Dáil in 2007, Minister O’Brien worked mainly in Financial Services and was elected to Fingal County Council in 2004. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2011. He has held various positions within the Oireachtas including ViceChairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Member of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Law Reform, Leader of Fianna Fáil in the Seanad and Opposition Frontbench Spokesperson on Dublin, Foreign Affairs and Housing.

John Kelly oversees and manages all aspects of training delivery within the Construction sector for NZEB & Retrofit Training, Scaffolding Apprenticeship, Skilled Utilities Operator Traineeship, Construction Skills Certificate Scheme, UK Changeover and Non EU Transfer programmes. He is passionate about training within the Energy and Sustainability sector and works closely with industries to identify training to meet current and future skills gaps with the aim of upskilling, retraining and further professionalising the Construction Industry.

Tricia has over 25 years’ experience in public procurement and has headed up the Procurement Department at Translink since March 2017. For the previous 3 years – having stepped down as Head of Procurement at Queen’s University in 2014 - she ran her own consultancy business, Evolve Procurement.

Translink is the primary provider of public transport services in Northern Ireland and is one of six Centres of Procurement Expertise. Tricia and her team are responsible for the delivery of strategic and operational procurement across the Translink Group.

Sara Venning is the Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Water. Sara is responsible for the overall performance of Northern Ireland Water and the company’s continuing journey towards customer excellence. Sara joined NI Water in April 2010 as Director of Customer Service Delivery with responsibility for water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment together with all aspects of service to customers. With a MEng in Electrical Engineering, Sara previously worked for Northern Ireland Electricity, holding a number of senior positions.

Dr. Michelle Minihan leads the drinking water team within the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement and has responsibility for the regulation of Uisce Éireann, ensuring the quality of drinking water delivered through the public supply in the Republic of Ireland meets legislative requirements. She is a ministerial appointee to the Water Advisory Body, as well as is a member of the EU Drinking Water Expert Group.

David Flynn is Principal Adviser and leads the Water Advisory Unit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Advisory Unit provides policy advice on: water and waste water services; Ireland’s Water Framework Directive planning process; implementing the EU’s water directives in Ireland; and climate adaptation for water quality and water services infrastructure. Prior to joining the Department David worked at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Conor Murphy is a Professor at the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS) in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University. His research interests focus on hydroclimatology, historical climatology and adaptation to climate change. Conor has been awarded over €6 million in funding as PI or Co-I from National and European sources, including SFI, IRC, EPA, Horizon 2020, JPI Climate. His research engages closely with enterprise, public bodies and communities. He has consistently published in top ranking international journals including; Science, Nature, Nature Climate Change, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also published numerous book chapters and government reports informing policy in the area. Conor sits on the National Climate Change Adaptation Committee and has acted as expert reviewer for reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also sits on the Climate Change and Environmental Sciences Committee of the Royal Irish Academy.

Ronan is the Finance and Regulation Director and a member of the Executive Committee. He is responsible for all financial and regulatory matters within the organisation. Ronan has previously held commercial and financial roles in various organisations in the UK and Ireland.

Tomas Wilkinson is Audit Director at the Northern Ireland Audit Office. He is responsible for leading financial and value for money audits with particular focus at the moment on the Department for Communities and the Department of Justice. He led the production of the NIAO’s report on Major Capital Projects which was published last year and liaised with the NI Assembly’s public accounts committee in the production of their report later in the year. Tomas trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC before joining NIAO in July 2001. He has been a Director in NIAO since 2011.

Sean Gregory is the Research and Innovation Manager at Dwr Cymru Welsh Water. He is currently responsible for driving forward research and innovation for the Wastewater side of the business, addressing the needs of the company and its customers, and aligning priorities accordingly to satisfy the Welsh Water 2050 vision. He joined the Central Asset Management department of DCWW in 2011. His primary responsibilities included calculating asset headroom and ensuring both population growth and compliance was considered and reviewed in equal measure. Since 2015, he has held a number of roles relating to Asset Engineering and Asset Management, which has included managing teams of engineers and project managers, looking after a series of investment cases, and representing the Client on multi-million pound strategies.

Angela Ryan is a chartered civil engineer and water resources planner with the asset management section of Uisce Éireann. Angela is currently the project lead for the National Water Resources Plan, the 25 year strategic plan for water services, which will set out how the company will meet the present and future challenges of water supply.

David Lonergan is National Leakage Manager at Uisce Éireann where he has led the Leakage Management team since 2018. This team is responsible for achieving Uisce Éireanns leakage reduction targets via Capital & Operational activities. David previously worked on the Irish Water Program in 2013 which was responsible for setting up the Uisce Éireann Utility, then joining the utility in 2014 as a Data Governance Specialist and later Water Network Asset Planning Specialist. Previous to this David spent 13 years in Dublin City Council & was a member of the Dublin Region Water Conservation Project & following that the Dublin Region Watermain Rehabilitation Project.

Damien O’Mullan is the Head of Energy for NI Water and leads the team across a number of ongoing energy efficiency and renewables projects. Damien is a Civil Engineer with more than 10 years’ experience in the energy and renewables industry in Northern Ireland.

Ronan is the Finance and Regulation Director and a member of the Executive Committee. He is responsible for all financial and regulatory matters within the organisation. Ronan has previously held commercial and financial roles in various organisations in the UK and Ireland.

Feargal Ó Coigligh is Assistant Secretary at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government heading up the Water Division of the Department. He previously served as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht where he headed up both the Heritage and Culture Divisions of that Department in successive periods. During his time in charge of the Culture Division he had responsibility for commemorations as part of the Decade of Centenaries including the successful Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. In the past he has worked on land-use planning policy, the reform of the local government system in Ireland, on modernising waste management policy - including the introduction of Europe's first levy on plastic bags, and as an adviser to the Minister for the Environment.

Brian Sheehan is Infrastructure Delivery Director and part of the executive management team at Uisce Éireann. In his role, he has responsibility for the delivery of the water and waste water capital investment programmes. The planned programme over the five-year period 2020-2024 totals a value of €5bn. The role has direct responsibility for all activities from design, planning and procurement through to construction delivery. Prior to taking up this role, he was head of Asset Delivery in Uisce Éireann for 5 years and worked previously as group head of planning and delivery in the Ervia Group and in various roles in Gas Networks Ireland including head of Asset Management. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Limerick and is a fellow of the institute of engineers of Ireland.

Neil Walker has 20 years’ experience in water utilities, he is becoming a leading figure in developing ‘systems’ approach’s not only in operational process control, and engineering but increasingly over the last few years toward integrating technology solutions and asset management practices.

Gerry is a Civil Engineering graduate of UCD. From his graduation in 1983 he has worked in Water Services. Initially with a specialist water and wastewater process contractor, mainly in wastewater treatment and pumping design and tendering, for 10 years. This was followed by about 21 years with the Water Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment (now the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage), where he served as Engineering Inspector and then Senior Adviser. He joined Uisce Éireann early in 2014 in his current role as Wastewater Asset Planning Lead within the Asset Management function.

Nichola Mallon MLA was appointed as the Northern Ireland Minister for Infrastructure on 11 January 2020. She is a graduate in Economic and Politics from Trinity College Dublin and has a Masters in Comparative Ethnic Conflict from QUB. Nichola Mallon MLA was previously elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a SDLP MLA for North Belfast in May 2016 and was successfully reelected in March 2017. Prior to this, she represented the Oldpark DEA in North Belfast on Belfast City Council for over six years. From 2014-2015 Nichola was the Lord Mayor of Belfast; the first nationalist female and the third female to hold the post. Nichola is the SDLP's Spokesperson on Communities and has sat on the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Communities Committee. She is a newly elected Deputy Leader of the SDLP.

Sinead O’Brien holds an Honours degree in Zoology from University College Cork and has been Coordinator of the Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) for 16 years. SWAN is an umbrella network of 25 of Ireland’s leading environmental organisations working collaboratively to protect Ireland’s water environment through participation in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and other waterrelated policy and legislation. Sinead is a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council, she also sits on the National Water Forum and the Uisce Éireann Stakeholder Forum and has extensive experience of water policy analysis at national and EU level. As a keen kayaker she’s had firsthand experience of the impact wastewater discharges can have on recreational users.

Sean Laffey is Uisce Éireann’s Asset Management & Sustainability Director. Sean joined Irish Water in 2013. He is a Chartered Engineer with nearly 30 years experience in engineering services including roles in the public and private sector. Prior to his current role, he was Head of Asset Management at Uisce Éireann and before that Asset Programmes Manager. He brought with him a wealth of experience in Engineering and Water Services from his time in the local authorities of South Dublin, Kildare and Carlow and was also part of the Water Services Transition Office preparing to transition water services to Uisce Éireann. Prior to that he held positions in both contracting and consulting businesses in Ireland and abroad.

Mary Gurrie is a Programme Manager in the Environmental Protection Agency with responsibility for the Water Management Programme. This includes implementation and reporting on the national Water Framework Directive and the national hydrometric monitoring programmes, the assessment of the pressures and impacts on water quality, supporting the technical implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and the regulation of bathing waters. Mary previously managed the Licence Enforcement Programme in the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement.

Tom Collins is Chair of the Public Water Forum. The Forum comprises 32 members, 12 represent organisations from a specific sector of interest and 20 members are domestic water consumers. The Forum is an independent body, playing a crucial role in ensuring that the public and water consumers are represented in the development of public water policy.

Paul McGowan has been a member of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) since 2013, and was appointed as Chairperson between February 2017 and February 2020. His lead responsibilities within CRU include water regulation and energy safety. Since 2000, Paul has held various roles in CRU across energy safety, all-island energy markets and gas regulation. Paul also previously worked in the offshore oil and gas, education and construction sectors. Paul is a Chartered Surveyor by profession with a PhD in the field of Construction/Engineering Management.

Trudy Higgins works as a policy officer at DG Environment in the European Commission. Since 2019 Trudy has worked in the Marine Environment and Water Industry Unit. The unit is responsible for the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, Drinking Water and Bathing Water Directive, as well as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Trudy is currently on secondment from Asset Management, Uisce Éireann. Prior to Uisce Éireann, Trudy worked on the Uisce Éireann program and in the private sector, both in Ireland and overseas. Trudy holds a Civil Engineering degree from University College Dublin, and an MBA from Copenhagen Business School.

Jeremy Health has over 20 years’ experience in the Water Industry, and a background in both mechanical engineering and database applications. He is currently responsible for the management of innovation within SES Water. This involves both the development of an innovation culture and the introduction of new technologies into the Water Industry, in particular the Smart Water Network.

Eamon Gallen is Uisce Éireann’s Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all day-to-day activities (Business Plans, Capital Delivery, Balanced Scorecard, Budgets, Risk etc.) and the management of relationships with a wide range of external stakeholders including Regulators, Government Departments, media etc. Eamon is the ultimate point of escalation for c800 internal staff and has oversight of c3,175 FTE Local Authority staff operating under SLA Agreements. Eamon joined Ervia in 2004 and prior to taking on his current role was the Acting Uisce Éireann Managing Director and before that the Head of Customer Operations serving c1.5m Domestic and c180k non-Domestic water and wastewater customers. He was previously Ervia CIO and held a number of senior programme management roles including the programme to establish Uisce Éireann. Eamon has a CIMA honours degree, an MBA from University College Cork and is a qualified Chartered Director.

Finbarr Burns is the Business Operations Manager for Uisce Éireann’s Asset Delivery Function which is responsible for the delivery of the water, wastewater and networks programmes from Uisce Éireann’s Capital Investment Programme. The planned Investment Programme over the five-year period 2020-2024 totals a value of €5bn. Finbarr supports the end to end delivery of a variety of projects and programmes of work, working to ensure a safe, sustainable and efficient delivery model. He is a Chartered Engineer having originally graduated from University College Cork with an honours degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. He has previously worked with the Cork National Roads Office delivering infrastructure projects across their minor and major portfolios of work before joining the Uisce Éireann Programme in 2013 to assist in standing up the new Utility. Finbarr has since worked in Uisce Éireann at a regional level managing the construction delivery of a portfolio of capital contracts, at a national level developing contracting and commercial strategies for the management of the Capital Investment Plan and in recent years he has also overseen the procurement of the Investment Plan.

Patrick is currently Managing Director of EPS Group having joined the company in 1997 . Patrick has over 25 years experience working in the water sector in Ireland , UK and Middle East. During the period 1999 to 2009 Patrick worked in the Public sector as an elected public representative of Cork Council and is former chairperson of the Strategic Policy Committee for Environment & Waste Management 2004-2009 , Bottlehill Landfill Environmental monitoring committee 2004-2009 , South Western river Basin Advisory council 2005-2009. Patrick is currently chair of the South West Regional Skills Executive forum.

Brían Munnelly is a Principal Officer and leads the Water Services Finance and Investment Unit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This Unit is responsible for the oversight of financial governance and strategic funding of Uisce Éireann including implementing and managing the long-term sustainable funding model for Uisce Éireann, oversight of Uisce Éireann’s Investment Plans and Strategic Funding Plan and managing the Ministerial capital and borrowing consents process for Uisce Éireann. Brían has a Master’s Degree in Public Management and is a Chartered Management Accountant with over 20 years finance experience including roles in the public and private sector.

Adam Hosking is Global Director of Water Resources and Resilience Solutions at Jacobs. He is a Chartered Scientist and Fellow of the Institute of Water and Environmental management. Adam’s experience spans over 25 years and across the water industry, from coastal erosion and flood risk management in the UK to wastewater infrastructure resilience in the US. Adam is a strong advocate for a proportionate and simple approach to change management. We don’t need to overly complicate the identification and likelihoods of risks with great accuracy from the outset; the future is uncertain and we need to be agile.

Evelyn is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, working in the consultancy sector in Ireland for more than 25 years and specialises in water, wastewater asset design, efficiency, optimisation and environmental compliance. Recognising the need for a rapid transition to sustainable practises, she has recently joined the Jacobs Water, Environment and Energy team focusing on the identification of key opportunities within water sector to implement both eco-efficient and effective solutions to minimise emissions, adopt ecosystem-based approaches and prioritise sustainable solutions.

Joanne Moran began her career as an Environmental Consultant in Belfast and has worked across various sectors in the UK and Ireland including Renewable Energy, Energy Generation and Transmission, Water Quality, Transport and the Built Environment. Since 2017, she has been focused on the growth and development of Jacobs infrastructure business and is currently Growth Director for Ireland. Jo is committed to supporting the industry to deliver more sustainable infrastructure solutions.

As Jacobs Executive Director of Operations, Neil has responsibility for the delivery of major capital investment programmes for water clients in Ireland and the UK. He has worked on several major projects delivering infrastructure of national importance over the past 25 years. Neil has also worked client side during his career, including delivery of a major wastewater coastal improvement programme. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from Queens University Belfast and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland.

Dr Conor Norton is a planner and urban designer with over 30 years of experience in the private and public sectors in Ireland and abroad. He has been involved in academia at both Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and University College Dublin since 1998 and is currently Head of the School of Transport Engineering, Environment and Planning at TU Dublin. He currently serves on key national advisory groups in the policy areas of the planning system and reform, town centre first, and marine planning. He is a member of the DEPR Construction Sector Group and was a member of the external advisory board for the URDF bids. As a consultant he has prepared and contributed to national policy and best practice for local area planning, flood risk management, urban roads and streets and unfinished residential developments. He has extensive project experience in plan-making, in particular, local area plans, SDZs, urban framework plans and urban design guidance. His PhD investigated the impact of urban form on the sustainability of urban centres and his recent and current research areas span planning and the landscape, planning for renewable energy and marine spatial planning. Dr Norton is a corporate member and served as Vice President of the Irish Planning Institute for 2018 and 2019 and was formerly chair of RTPI Ireland in 2015.

Sébastien Mouret is a Policy Advisor at EurEau, where he focuses on drinking water, the circular economy and the Industrial Emissions Directive. Prior to joining EurEau, Sébastien spent four years as Europe Editor for trade publication Global Water Intelligence in the UK. He studied politics and international relations in the UK and the US as well as his native France.

Karen Kenny is a Senior Advisor, Planning in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage since 2021. In this role, she is responsible for matters relating to Project Ireland 2040 (NPF and NDP) co-ordination and review and urban and regional development policy. Karen has more than 21 years professional planning experience, having worked for An Bord Pleanála and for Kildare, South Dublin, Meath, Fingal and Galway County Councils. During her time in the local authority sector, Karen was involved in the development and implementation of a number of significant land use plans, including County Development Plans and SDZ Planning Schemes. As a Senior Planning Inspector at An Bord Pleanála she worked on SHD and SID applications, local authority direct applications and CPO applications.

Fintan Towey is Assistant Secretary for Water in the department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.  Previously he worked in the Department of Transport with responsibility for aviation policy since 2015. He had various previous roles across the transport, energy, communications and tourism sectors. As a result he has extensive experience of public policy in network industries.

Evelyn McAuliffe is Water & Sustainability Consultant at Jacobs. She is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, working in the consultancy sector in Ireland for more than 25 years and specialises in water, wastewater asset design, efficiency, optimisation and environmental compliance. Recognising the need for a rapid transition to sustainable practises, she has recently joined the Jacobs Water, Environment and Energy team focusing on the identification of key opportunities within the water sector to implement both eco-efficient and effective solutions to minimise emissions, adopt ecosystem-based approaches and prioritise sustainable solutions.

Mr. Joan Carles Guardiola, is Civil Engineer in the specialty of hydraulics and environment by the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain. Joan has extensive experience in Water&ICT projects. He was R&D engineer at Global Omnium and coordinator of different R&D activities, with focus on development of new solutions. He has also been responsible for Asset Management projects. In 2020 he joined Idrica as Key Account Manager for Europe and Services & Solutions specialist and is now a Client Solutions Architect.

Soumeya Madani is a chartered engineer with more than 16 years’ experience working across multiple industries in the UK. She started her career in the Oil and Gas Industry and is now working in the Water Industry with Xylem Water Solutions UK. Soumeya’s background in control and instrumentation and her career working for different system vendors and engineering contractors provides her with a well-rounded outlook on delivering mega projects and supporting clients around the world meeting their commitments and KPIs.As the Digital Solutions Lead for Xylem Water Solutions UK, Soumeya is supporting water utilities in UK and Ireland advancing and optimising their processes along with meeting their emissions and sustainability targets.

Mr. Kevin Devine is Sales Director at Xylem Water Solutions Ireland. Kevin holds a Degree in business & has worked for over 25 years’ in the Water, Wastewater & HVAC businesses. He has extensive experience across a broad range of functions including, Sales, Finance, Operations, Tendering, Procurement, Project Scheduling and Project Management. Kevin is Married to Andrea and has 2 kids, James and Keeva – In his spare time, He trains and coaches his local Juvenile hurling team in East Galway which is his true passion!