Mr Kevin Duffy (Chair) began his career as a bricklayer, and was an official of the Bricklayers’ Union for 15 years. In 1987, he joined the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as Assistant General Secretary in charge of industrial relations. Mr Duffy – who is a qualified barrister – retired from the Labour Court in June 2016, having been appointed as Deputy Chairman in 1997, and serving as Chairman since 2003. Mr Duffy is currently an adjunct professor at the law department of NUI Maynooth.

Ms Marian Corcoran is an experienced business leader, director and executive coach. She has over 28 years of experience working in both the private and public sector in Ireland and internationally. Marian serves on the board of the IDA and is an executive coach with Praesta Ireland where she works with senior leaders and their teams. Prior to joining Praesta, Ms Corcoran held a number of senior leadership positions in Accenture. During her career with Accenture, she worked with clients across multiple sectors in the US, Europe, UK and Ireland to deliver transformational organisational, business and technology change.

Mr Ultan Courtney was appointed to the Board of CIÉ and as Chairman of Bus Átha Cliath in September 2014. He has wide experience in the Human Resources and Industrial Relations field. He is Managing Director of his own consultancy business and previously held positions in C&C Group Plc, Superquinn, Waterford Foods and IBEC. Mr Courtney holds a Degree in Economics and an M.A. from Trinity College Dublin and numerous qualifications in the areas of business strategy, employment law, mediation, arbitration and corporate legal governance.

Ms Ruth Curran is Managing Partner at MERC Partners where she specialises in senior executive and C level appointments across all industry sectors and leads the Board practice at MERC. Ms. Curran is a board member of the National Maternity Hospital Foundation and has recently been elected to the Governing Authority of The National University of Ireland, Galway. She is the 2016 recipient of the NUIG Business and Commerce Alumni of the Year Award. Ms. Curran is the Global chair of IIC Partners, one of the world’s largest executive search organisations and sits on the Diversity Committee of the Association of Executive Search Consultants.

Mr Noel Dowling worked as a senior official with the ITGWU/SIPTU for over 30 years, becoming National Industrial Secretary for transport and natural resources in 1996. In 2005 he was appointed to establish and head up the first dedicated organising department within the trade union movement in Ireland. Mr Dowling served on the board of the European Transport Federation for many years and is currently a member of the EAT.

Mr Michael Kelly was a career public servant until 2006. Most of his career was spent in the health sector, ultimately as Secretary General of the Department of Health. He also held top level positions in the Department of Justice (Deputy Secretary) and, until 2010, in the Higher Education Authority as Chair. He has wide experience of the public sector and of public management, with a particular focus on organisation re-structuring, change management, human resources and related issues. An experienced Chair and Director, he has held board appointments across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. He is now a Director and Principal of Governance Ireland, a specialist consultancy practice in corporate governance and compliance and also undertakes project work in a number of other areas for a range of clients.

Dr Seán Lyons is an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute and an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin. He is an applied microeconomist with experience in research, consultancy and regulation. At the ESRI, most of his work is focused on empirical research in regulated sectors. Dr Lyons has a wide range of research interests including applied econometrics, economic modelling, distributional effects of policy and economics of disability.

Mr Peter Mc Loone was General Secretary of the IMPACT Trade Union from 1995 until his retirement in July 2010. He was elected President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions from 2005 to 2007. He was Chair of the ICTU Public Services Committee for 17 years. He served as a member of the Labour Relations Commission for 15 years until September 2015. He is currently a Board member of the Institute of International and European Affairs, the National College of Ireland, the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists and the Irish Times Trust.