Speakers 2024
Matt Cooper
Radio and TV Broadcaster, Newspaper Columnist and a Best-Selling Author.
Matt Cooper is a Radio and TV Broadcaster, Newspaper Columnist and a Best-Selling Author. Matt presents and edits the daily news, current affairs and sports programme, ‘The Last Word’ on Today FM. He previously presented ‘The Tonight Show’ on Virgin Media One. He writes a weekly newspaper column for The Irish Daily Mail that is published each Wednesday and The Last Post column on the back page of the Business Post each Sunday. He is a regular host, chairman and speaker at business conferences and events and ensures every occasion is enriched with a professional, well prepared, no-nonsense approach that gets the best result for clients.
Matt has a long-standing interest in business, going back to his time as Business Editor of the Irish Independent. He has written two major business biographies, both of which were short-listed for Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year: ‘The Maximalist, the story of Tony O’Reilly’ (2015) and ‘Michael O’Leary, turbulent times for the man who made Ryanair’ (2018). The latter was Financial Times book of the month in September 2018. He was also author of the number one bestseller – who really controls the valuable land where we live, work and play and how did they acquire it? Who are the new foreign investors and why are they buying property and land in Ireland? ‘Who Really Runs Ireland’ (2009) and ‘How Ireland Really Went Bust’ (2011), both of which were also short-listed for Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year. His new book Who Really Owns Ireland? examines the key players behind the scenes of Irish property ownership– who really controls the valuable land where we live, work and play and how did they acquire it? – who are the new foreign investors and why are they buying property and land in Ireland?…………. which will be released for sale on 26 October 2023.
Matt is a former editor of The Sunday Tribune, having been appointed at the age of 30 in 1996. He left for a career in radio in 2003. He was twice national journalist of the year and twice business journalist of the year. He co-produced and presented acclaimed Olympics documentary ‘No Earthly King’ in 2012, and ‘Ireland’s Brexit Dilemma’ and ‘Trump versus Ireland’ for TV3 in 2016 and 2017.
Conor Taaffe
Managing Director, HomeBond
B.E., M.Eng.Sc., M.A.I., BL, Dip. Public Admin, Dip. Legal Studies, CIP, C.Eng
Conor is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Barrister at Law and is the Managing Director of HomeBond, the principle provider in Ireland of structural and defects insurance in the residential construction sector. He is a member of the National Standards Authority of Ireland’s (NSAI) working groups on aggregates, masonry, timber construction and building services, and is a former member of Building Regulations Advisory Body (BRAB).
He is the Module Director for HomeBond’s ‘Building Regulations Explained’ FETAC Level 6 training course accredited by Engineers Ireland and Dublin Institute of Technology, and the ‘Mechanical & Electrical Services Explained’ training course. He has delivered technical presentations at national and international events and seminars over a number of years.
Kieran McQuinn
Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI)
Kieran McQuinn is a Research Professor who works on the quarterly economic commentary (QEC), macroeconomic and housing related projects. His research interests are in the macro-financial and economic growth areas. He spent over 11 years working in the Irish Central Bank where he had management positions in the research and financial stability areas. He started his career in University College Cork and then joined Teagasc, the Irish agriculture and food development authority, where he worked for over 5 years as a research economist.
Kieran has a PhD in economics from NUI Maynooth. He has served on the management committee and the council of the Economic and Social Research Institute and he is currently adjunct professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin.
Conor O’Connell
IHBA Director
Conor O’Connell, Director of Housing & Planning joined the CIF in 2001 and is an experienced advocate for the sector. Conor has worked extensively on housing supply policy issues for several years including drafting Local Authority Development Plan submissions, stakeholder engagement with elected officials and public officials, drafting reports on Apartment Viability, media engagement at a local and national level, representing the industry at Oireachtas Committee Hearings, writing op-eds for national publications on housing supply and managing a regional Branch network of members.
More recently Conor leads up the provision of services to members of the Irish Home Builders Association nationally. The Irish Home Builders Association is the representative body for the builders of residential homes throughout Ireland. The members of the IHBA build almost 90% of Irelands new homes and include small family-owned enterprises to the larges PLC’s operating in the sector. The organisations national reach and representative reach gives it a unique perspective on how to solve Ireland’s housing supply problem and Conor is a strong advocate for a more streamlined regulatory process to ensure that the private sector can deliver the much-needed homes for people living and working in Ireland.
Conor holds qualifications in Real Estate Economics and Finance as well as Law, Business and HR.
Stephen McCarthy
Incoming CIF President 2025
Stephen McCarthy is the Managing Director of Astra Construction Services Ltd. which he founded over 34 years ago. He has concentrated the business in the Carrigaline area and has built over 2,000 homes. Stephen’s in-depth knowledge of the house building industry and personal tenacity brought the company through the recession which resulted in the successful completion of a development of 400 houses in Forest Hill, Carrigaline. Having traded successfully over the last 34 years, Astra Construction Services Ltd. is now in the process of building its largest development to date comprising 950 homes in Janeville on Cork Road in Carrigaline. Stephen is actively involved with Homebond and the CIF, at a local and national level and he is currently the Vice President of Construction Industry Federation (CIF)
Michael Kelleher
IHBA Chairman
Group Operations Director, O’Flynn Group
Michael co-ordinates and oversees the architectural, engineering, building, marketing and sales teams. He has market-leading experience in delivering large-scale developments from concept to completion. These include Ballincollig Town Centre and the Elysian in Cork
Catherine McAuliffe
Savills Director
Catherine is a director with Savills with over 30 years’ experience in the residential property sector. She heads up Savills Residential Department in Cork and has specialised in new homes for many years, providing strategic advice in relation to the master planning, housing design and mix, marketing, and sales of new developments. Catherine has a wide range of clients in the industry including corporates, institutions, investors, developers, and builders and has been involved in the sale of many developments ranging from largescale housing estates and exclusive detached schemes, to niche high end apartment developments. Savills sell over 1,000 new homes in Ireland each year and in Cork, most recently they have advised local authorities, Government bodies and JV developers on a number of mixed tenure developments, including apartment schemes approved under the Croi Conaithe scheme, together with selling units with the local authority within the affordable housing model. Catherine is hopeful that the substantial growth in the sector currently being experienced will increase supply and allay some of the difficulties being experienced by so many buyers when attempting to access a home in the current market.
Aidan Clancy
Clancy Construction
Clancy Construction’s origins date back to 1947 and with history comes experience. We use these 75 years of experience to deliver a service that truly reflects your particular needs.
We have an extensive portfolio of projects from all sectors including Residential, Student Accommodation, Commercial, Healthcare, Conservation, Restoration, Education and Hospitality. Our work in these sectors has been an integral part of our growth and have always aligned with our six core values – Safety, Professionalism, Collaboration/Teamwork, Quality, Commitment/Loyalty and Sustainability.
James O’Halloran
Cluid Housing
James is Head of New Business with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry. Strong support professional skilled in Lettings, Feasibility Studies, Quantity Surveying, Cost Reporting, and Construction.
Mary Hughes
HRA Director & Town Planning Consultant
With 24 years’ experience in planning, Mary spent her formative years working for different planning authorities throughout Ireland. In 2002 she left the public sector and became Associate Director of an international transport and planning consultancy before establishing HRA Planning in 2005 with Gary Rowan.
Mary has an inherent understanding of the demands and needs of the Irish planning system and represented over 700 planners in the country as President of the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) between 2014 and 2016. She has debated planning issues on different media platforms including radio and television, presented planning papers and has appeared twice in front of the Oireachtas Environment Committee providing expert advice on planning and housing supply issues and legislation. Her knowledge and experience within the Irish Planning System led to her appointment to the four person An Bord Pleanála Review Group in August 2015. The findings and recommendations of the Organisational Review of An Bord Pleanála were published in February 2016 by the Minister for Environment.
Mary has an excellent working relationship with many local authorities across Ireland through her public sector work having worked for and on behalf of local authorities in Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Kildare, Dublin and Meath.
She has prepared planning policy and formulation of development plans and area framework strategies for local government and semi-state bodies. She has successfully navigated significant and complex residential and commercial projects through the planning system and has written numerous Environmental Impact Statements. She has also worked with a number of community groups in delivering effective consultation methods and strategies as part of the preparation of development plans and the advancement of complex planning projects.
Sarah Neary
DHLGH
Sarah is Principal Adviser, Building Standards, in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. She has responsibility for leading the Building Standards Advisory Unit in its role to develop policy and legislation in respect of building control, building regulations, construction products, legacy defects issues, and in respect of the pyrite remediation, governance and oversight of the Pyrite Resolution Board. She is a Chartered Engineer, holds a Civil Engineering Degree from the University of Galway and a MBA from UCD. Prior to joining the Department, Sarah worked as a Structural Design Engineer with Ryan Hanley consulting engineers in Galway.
Daniel Hicks
NHBC
Daniel has worked in the construction industry for over 20 years, originally completing an apprenticeship as a Brick layer before completing a degree in Building surveying and moving over to the world of latent defects insurance. Daniel leads a multi-disciplinary team within NHBC’s Standards, Innovation and Research department with the primary aim of mitigating future technical risks to the NHBC. Daniel and his team also manage the NHBC foundation, taking projects from conception to the finished publication.
John Kelly
Manager: National Construction Training Campus, Mount Lucas
Manager: National Construction Training Campus, Mount Lucas
Programme Co-ordinator National Scaffolding Apprenticeship
Retrofit & NZEB Centre of Excellence
Overseeing and managing 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.
Passionate about training within the Energy and Sustainability sector and working 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.
Martin Searson
NSAI- Head of MMC
Working in the Construction & Engineering Industry for over 20 years, specialising in M&E services and with knowledge of Civil Construction, BioPharma, Data Centre, and Commercial Fit-out projects.
Specialties include: ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 14001: 2015, ISO 27001: 2017 and ISO 45001: 2018 Management Systems implementation, Quality Assurance, Lean Construction and Operational Excellence (OpEx) using the EFQM Model.
Quality Management techniques (especially for the Construction Industry).
MEP Quantity Surveying advice.
Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) / Offsite Manufacturing (OSM) / Modular Construction.
Regulatory Knowledge and Compliance (incl. BCAR 2014, Brexit, CE Marking, EN, BS snd IS Standards)
Sustainable Construction & Green Procurement (LEED, BREEAM and CEEQUAL)
Auditing and Monitoring of processes, installations and systems.
Quality Risk Management (QRM) for the BioPharma and Construction industries.
Lean Construction Implementation and application of Lean Construction tools on projects and within Support Functions.
Winner of numerous Business Excellence and Lean Awards over the past 10 years.
Beth Cocker
Sustainability Engineer at Evolusion Innovation
Beth is a Sustainability Engineer at Evolusion Innovation. Evolusion Innovation is an international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and the leading experts in 2D panellised and 3D modular/volumetric Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) (also known as Offsite Construction) with our Irish head office in Cork. They use their proven expertise and experience to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions in areas including structural engineering design, building physics/performance analysis, product + system development, and sustainability and energy assessment. They have been instrumental in the design, development and third-party certification of numerous construction materials and components, and of complex and cutting-edge low, medium and high-rise building systems.