James Browne TD is Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, appointed in January 2025.

He has previously served as Minister of State at the Department of Justice with responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice, in which capacity he led significant modernisation, including leading the reform and strengthening of Ireland’s gambling legislation, revision of Ireland’s defamation laws, and reform of youth justice.

A qualified barrister, Minister Browne was educated at Waterford IT, University College Cork, and the King’s Inns.

As Minister for Housing, Minister Browne is focused on addressing Ireland’s housing and homelessness crisis, and is committed to facilitating and driving the increase in the delivery and supply of homes across all tenures – social, affordable, cost rental and private. The next Government housing plan is currently in development.

Minister Browne is a TD for Wexford and is from Enniscorthy.

Fidelma is a partner in Beauchamps Commercial Real Estate group and heads the firm’s specialised Housing team. She has particular expertise in complex conveyancing and is an acknowledged market leader in the acquisition, development, and management of social and affordable housing.

Fidelma works with local authorities, state agencies, Approved Housing Bodies, developers, home builders, lending institutions, pension funds, charities and pension funds as well as institutional and private investors. With extensive experience, Fidelma offers unique insight into the legal, commercial, and social issues surrounding social and affordable housing and mixed-tenure provision, along with a deep understanding of the sector’s complex challenges. She has well-developed client relationship and project management skills and regularly collaborates with Beauchamps’ construction, banking, and procurement teams to deliver bespoke advice tailored to the housing sector.

Fidelma is ranked as a leading partner by Legal 500 and is ranked in Chambers & Partners, and her housing team has been recognised for its contribution to Irish society with the Public Sector Excellence in Business Award for housing services for six successive years. She was also recently named one of the Business Post’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Property, underscoring her significant impact and leadership in the sector.

Kate English is Deloitte Ireland’s Chief Economist. She joined the firm in 2022, spearheaded the creation of the real estate research team and the firm’s first Chief Economist. Kate and her team conduct data-driven research across the real estate market and broader economic and policy areas, assessing trends within Ireland and its key trading markets.

Kate is a recognised commentator on global macroeconomic trends, fiscal policy, capital markets, demographics, real estate and employment trends. She frequently presents market updates and panel discussions across national broadcast and print media. In recognition of her thought leadership in real estate, she was listed in the inaugural Business Post Property 100, Ireland’s most influential property sector leaders.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Kate served as the Chief Economist, Head of Research & Insights at Economist with Cushman & Wakefield Ireland and held the position of Senior Economist with Sherry FitzGerald. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and French from University College Cork.

Stephen was appointed Chief Executive Officer in August 2019. As CEO of Glenveagh, Stephen is responsible for delivering on the Group’s vision to create Ireland’s leading and most sustainable homebuilder. Stephen has over 20 years’ experience in the construction and property industry in Ireland. Prior to founding his own successful residential development business, Bridgedale Homes, Stephen worked with a number of Ireland’s largest property developers. From 2014 to 2017, Stephen advised and managed the acquisition of Irish residential development opportunities on behalf of TIO RLF. A co-founder of Glenveagh who assumed the CEO role in 2019, Stephen has led the growth and development of the Group since IPO. Glenveagh is one of Ireland’s leading homebuilders and delivered over 2,400 homes in 2024.

About Glenveagh Properties
Glenveagh Properties plc, listed on Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange, is a leading Irish homebuilder.

Aoife Watters joined Respond as Chief Executive Officer in April 2025. She brings extensive leadership experience across both the charity sector and private industry, with a strong track record in governance, strategic planning, and financial management.

Aoife has held senior auditor roles in London and Dublin, as well as executive and non-executive roles in the not-for-profit sector, with a particular focus on housing and homelessness. She previously served as Director of Finance and Corporate Services for a large cross-border housing and homelessness charity. Aoife has also held board-level roles with another Approved Housing Body, where she acted as Chair and led its Finance and Audit Subcommittee.

Before joining Respond, Aoife was CEO of Dublin Cemeteries Trust, a role she held from 2019, following her appointment as Chief Financial Officer in 2018.

Aoife has built a distinguished career in both the commercial and charity sectors, leading transformative change and enhancing organisational performance. With deep expertise in governance, strategic leadership and financial stewardship, she has consistently championed diversity and inclusion, achieving gender balance on boards and advancing initiatives that support strong, high performing teams.

Martin Whelan joined the Housing Agency in April as CEO. He held prior senior leadership positions at the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), where he worked across the NTMA’s core international funding, investment, corporate financial advisory, project execution, and claims and risk management mandates and affiliate businesses including Home Building Finance Ireland and Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. Martin has also held senior roles at the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), and in management and business consultancy. He is a Chartered Director (Institute of Directors) and holds postgraduate qualifications in town planning, economic policy, public policy and corporate governance.

Pat Farrell is CEO of Irish Institutional Property (IIP), the voice of internationally backed institutional property investors in Ireland. The mission of IIP is to promote the development of a sustainable world class real estate sector in Ireland which benefits members, the economy, communities, and wider society. IIP members manage c.€20bn of Irish property, directly employ almost 6,000 people, indirectly employ a further 23,000 people and IIP tenant companies employ more than 36,000 people. Through these investments IIP members are facilitating the funding of the majority of private market new residential supply and are critical enablers of Irish economic development and growth. IIP’s membership include four of the largest 20 stocks on Euronext Dublin (formerly known as Irish Stock Exchange).

John Coleman has been Chief Executive of the Land Development Agency since its inception in September 2018. He was responsible for creating the LDA concept, strategy and organisation from scratch, and then scaling it to be one of Ireland’s most significant housing delivery and land assembly vehicles with a staff of over 200 people. John was previously Chief Financial Officer at Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) and worked extensively on the set up of its Residential Delivery division. John is a graduate of University College Dublin (BComm) and a chartered accountant (FCA). Prior to joining NAMA in 2011 he worked in banking and accountancy.

Angela Ryan is a Senior Manager in the Asset Management and Sustainability Directorate of Uisce Éireann, Ireland’s national utility for water services. Angela currently manages the Asset Strategy team which includes Forward Planning, Environmental Strategy, Water and Wastewater Asset Strategy. She has a strong strategic, regulatory and environmental background, and has recently delivered the 25-year strategic plan for all public water supplies in Ireland, the National Water Resources Plan.

Angela’s team works closely with external bodies such as the Office of the Planning Regulator, the Land Development Agency, the Regional Assemblies and Local Authorities to ensure that growth and housing targets are built into our plans and are facilitated through infrastructure delivery.

Angela is a nominated member of EurEau, the European Federation of National Associations of Water Services, and has also served on Governmental working groups for the development of legislation on water abstraction, and steering groups for the development and promotion of nature based solutions. She has also represented Uisce Eireann during drought periods on the National Emergency Coordination Group.

Angela has a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a chartered engineer with Engineers Ireland. She has 25-years’ experience in engineering services, private consultancy, public sector and utilities, including 10 years in Asset Management.

Brian Tapley is Head of Customer and Project Delivery South at ESB Networks, where he leads a large multi-disciplinary team delivering essential services to over one million customers across three regions. With more than 22 years of experience in the energy sector, Brian has held senior leadership roles spanning network operations, customer delivery, telecoms, and regulation.

Throughout his career, Brian has driven major organisational transformations to enhance customer experience, improve network resilience, and deliver on regulatory and sustainability commitments. He is passionate about fostering a culture of safety, service excellence, and innovation, ensuring that ESB Networks continues to meet the evolving needs of customers in a rapidly changing energy landscape.

Brian holds an MBA from UCD Smurfit Business School, a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, and completed the Future Power Grid Managers Programme at Vlerick Business School. His leadership combines strategic vision with a strong focus on collaboration and stakeholder engagement, positioning ESB Networks at the forefront of Ireland’s energy transition.

Paul Sheridan is the Director of Main Contracting Services in the CIF. As part of his brief Paul represents the Civil Engineering, Master Builders and General Contracting sector all of whom are essential to building the infrastructure that supports FDI, housing for all and Ireland’s economic growth. Paul is also responsible for Procurement, Tendering and Contractual Policy in the CIF, in particular, Public Procurement of Infrastructure under the NDP.

Paul is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and holds a Master’s in Business Practice from the IMI alongside a postgraduate diploma in Construction Law and Contract Administration.

Paul began his career as a Contracts Manager in the Water and Waste-Water Industry with Earth Tech and Veoila. He previously worked in the Tendering and Contracting Department in the CIF where he represented Mechanical and Electrical Contractors before working as a Senior Development Executive with Rohan Holdings in the Industrial Property Development sector. Before re-joining the CIF, Paul worked with Engineers Ireland and the Royals College of Surgeons in areas of policy development, advocacy, strategy, business excellence and third level professional education and accreditation.