Minister Donohoe appoints Ms Liz O’Donnell as Chairperson Designate of the Road Safety Authority

29th October, 2014

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Paschal Donohoe, TD today (Wednesday) announced that he has appointed Ms. Liz O’Donnell as Chairperson Designate of Road Safety Authority (RSA) for a period of 5 years.  The appointment is subject to the Chairperson-designate appearing before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications.

 

Ms. O’Donnell currently provides consultancy, lecturing and advisory services for corporate, educational and various other organisations in the field of government relations and public affairs and is an opinion columnist in the Irish Independent newspaper.  She is also a former politician having been first elected to the Dáil in 1992 where she served as TD for Dublin South from 1992 to 2007. She served as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1997 -2002.

 

Minister Donohoe said: ‘I am delighted to propose Ms. Liz O’Donnell as Chairperson of the RSA and am happy that she has agreed to take on this important role and to work with us to improve road safety. Amongst the key priorities for the role will be to continue the implementation of the fourth Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020 which includes targeted reductions in death and injuries on our roads, to complete the progression of the RSA to a self-sustaining entity that draws its funding from non-Exchequer sources and to deliver a successful organisation in line with the Authority’s own internal strategic review.

 

“This appointment is being made in advance of the introduction of new procedures for State Board appointments, in view of the urgent need to fill the vacant post which is crucial to our efforts to combat road deaths. The former Chairperson, Mr Gay Byrne, whom I thank sincerely for his enormous contribution, brought great enthusiasm to the role. I am confident that Ms.O’Donnell will bring a commensurate amount of skills and experience to this position on the Board of the RSA and will make an effective contribution towards reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads”.

Ends

Editor Notes

Section 15 of the Road Safety Authority Act 2006 specifies that the term of office of the chairperson shall be 5 years.

 

Ms O’Donnell expressed an interest in serving on a State Board via the Board Diversity Initiative. Established in 2010, the Board Diversity Initiative provides a bridge between boards and women candidates. Since the launch of the initiative, more than 30 women on the panel have been appointed to Irish boards. The panel currently profiles 85 qualified and experienced women who are interested in serving on boards. The 3rd version of the list will be available by the end of 2014.