Minister McGrath appoints five external members to Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board

Key commitment under the NDP

Additional expert knowledge

Extensive experience in project delivery

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, has today (Friday), announced the appointment of five external members to the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board.

The Project Ireland 2040 (PI2040) Delivery Board was set up in 2018 to assist in the implementation of the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework.

The membership of the PI2040 Delivery Board has to date predominantly comprised of Secretaries General of the main capital spending Government Departments. The appointment of five new external members will bring additional expert knowledge, greater private sector experience, as well as important independent and regional perspectives, to the deliberations of the Delivery Board.

The enhancement of the PI2040 Delivery Board follows the recent establishment of the Major Projects Advisory Group both of which are key reforms under the National Development Plan announced last year. The role of this group is to provide expert and independent scrutiny of major projects costing over €100 million and it has already begun reviewing such projects.

Minister Michael McGrath said:

ENDS

Notes for Editors

Members of the Project Ireland Delivery Board

Secretaries General/ Head of Office of the following Departments/Offices:

• Public Expenditure and Reform
• Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• Office of Public Works
• Transport
• Health
• Education
• Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills
• Environment, Climate and Communications
• Enterprise, Trade and Employment
• Agriculture, Food and the Marine
• Justice
• Rural and Community Development
• Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht Sports and Media

New External Members:

Ms Mary Hughes

Mary Hughes is a Chartered Town Planner with in excess of 25 years’ experience. In her early planning career, Mary worked within local government before entering the private sector and working for a multi-disciplinary consultancy specialising in transport and planning. In 2005, Mary co-founded ‘HRA | Planning Chartered Town Planning Consultants’, establishing offices in Dublin and Limerick city and providing specialist town planning services nationwide. She has been involved and continues to be involved in many national and regional spatial planning and development projects including the preparation of local government city and county development plans; provision of advice on planning and environmental matters to national government departments and semi state bodies; and provision of planning services to large development companies, regeneration agencies and community interest groups. Mary was elected to the national Council of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) in 2010 and served as President of the Institute between 2014 and 2016 and was subsequently nominated by the Institute as a candidate to the 25th Seanad Eireann election. She was appointed by the Minister for the Environment to the Independent Review Group of An Bord Pleanála in 2015.

Mr PJ Rudden

P J Rudden is Chair of Construction Sector Group (CSG) Innovation and Digital Adoption at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform since September 2020. A past President of Engineers Ireland, he is a Chartered Fellow, Civil and Environmental Engineer qualified from UCD and various international professional bodies. He retired as Director RPS in 2019 having served for over 20 years in various senior roles as Group Director in Strategy, Business Development, Energy, Environment, Circular Economy, Resource Management, Marketing and Communications. He has significant national and regional experience in infrastructural planning, design, procurement and project management experience across Ireland. He led and delivered major public and private projects across transport, energy, waste management, water and environment sectors in Ireland, UK and with the EU Commission. He was also Director of the EU Commission Secretariat for the European Green Capital and European Green Leaf Awards from 2010 to 2019 on urban sustainability and climate action for client DG Environment.

Mr Sean O’Driscoll

Sean O’ Driscoll is Chairman of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). He is a former Chairman and Chief Executive of the Glen Dimplex Group and a former Partner in KPMG. He is a Member of the Trilateral Commission and a former Director of Allied Irish Banks, former member of the National Competitiveness Council of Ireland and a former member of a number of other Government appointed Advisory Groups. Sean is the recipient of an OBE and a Légion d’Honneur Award.

Ms Terry Prendergast

Terry Prendergast is a professional planner and member of the Irish Planning Institute. Her most recent role has been as a Board Member with An Bord Pleanala. Prior to that she was Principal Planner with the Grangegorman Development Agency, in conjunction with lecturing in planning with the then Dublin Institute of Technology. She has also worked for a number of organisations as a planner including local authorities, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the United Nations. She has been awarded a B.Sc. in Environmental Economics from DIT, an M.Sc. in Urban Design and Regional Planning from the University of Edinburgh and an M.Sc. in Sustainable Development from DIT.

Mr Thomas Barrett

Thomas Barrett is currently Senior non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, focusing on the financing of Sustainable Development and of Strategic Infrastructure. Mr Barrett was formerly Chairman of the OECD Infrastructure Governance Forum in Paris until 2020. Previously, Mr. Barrett was the Permanent Representative of the EIB (European Investment Bank) and Minister of the European Union Delegation to the United States in Washington, DC

Thomas Barrett has also held various senior roles at the European Investment Bank, primarily as Director for EIB’s Structured Finance and Advisory Activities for over a decade ; he was concurrently Chairman of EPEC (European PPP Expertise Centre) which advised EU Member States on PPP policy and implementation. He was, inter alia, the Founder EIB Director of the Marguerite Fund, the Pan-European Euro 1.5 Billion Equity Fund for Strategic Infrastructure and Climate investments; EIB Director for Lending in North Western Europe and the financing and development of the European Trans-European Networks (TENs) for Transport and Energy.

Mr Barrett was educated at the National University of Ireland, Cork and at INSEAD, France.

Major Projects Advisory Group (MPAG)

The MPAG was established in December 2021, to further strengthen project management and assist DPER in its project assurance role. The public service leadership in the Group is complemented by the appointment of four highly qualified experts with extensive experience at senior levels in planning, managing and delivering major public investment projects.

Before seeking Government approval for projects at the relevant decision gates, project proposals and external reviews will be scrutinised by the MPAG in advance of the decision to proceed.

The first introductory meeting of the Major Projects Advisory Group took place in January and the first major project is currently going through the MPAG process, which will be considered at a meeting later this month.