Clare is a lifelong member of Water Safety Ireland and Swim Ireland. Having served on the Swim Ireland Munster Regional Executive in various roles including Secretary and Treasurer. She was Swim Ireland President 2009/2010. I was a Swim Ireland board member from 2012 to 2014 and served as Chairman to the SI board from 2014-2019. As Chairman of the Board, Clare played a very active role in the organisation, ensuring strong governance and good practice.

She is currently a member of the board of Water Safety Ireland, for a 5 year term and appointed as Chairman of the Lifesaving Sport Commission, responsible for all Regional and National competitions, National squads and International teams.

Clare is an international “A” Referee for lifesaving sport and has been invited to be Chief Referee and Deputy Chief Referee at World and European Championships, and European Junior Championships. Acting as director of competitions, for the, very successful, European Junior Lifesaving Championships, held here in Ireland in September 2018. She currently works with Clare County Council, Environment Team as Water Safety Development Officer. Her remit is all items relating to the beaches, supervision of beach lifeguards, blue flags, beach trading licences, beach byelaws.

Peter has held a number of senior positions in the youth, community and voluntary sector. He has a diploma in management from the Smurfit Business School at University College Dublin and was Director of Dun Laoghaire Youth Service until 2001. He became involved with Special Olympics Ireland as a volunteer before joining the management team of the 2003 World Games as Director of Support Services with responsibility for volunteers, families and the Host Town programme. Peter was appointed by the government in 2002 as Chairman of the National Children’s Advisory Council to monitor the implementation of the Children’s Strategy.

In 2004 he joined Special Olympics Ireland as Director of Support Services and member of their management team before taking a career break on his appointment as P.A. to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and subsequently P.A. to the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport. Peter returned to Special Olympics Ireland in 2011 as Director of Training and Volunteers with additional responsibility for Safeguarding until his retirement in 2020. He continues his interest in disability sports as a member of the Leadership Council of Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia and as a volunteer with his local Special Olympics club. A former rugby player, Peter coaches disability rugby at his club Seapoint RC where he is a member of the executive filling the role as the Club Welfare Officer.

Peter is a member of a number of committees in the Irish Rugby Football Union including Disability Rugby and the Spirit of Rugby. He is Chairman of the IRFU Safeguarding Working Group for Mini and Youth Rugby. As a former Mandated Person and National Children’s Officer for Special Olympics Ireland he is a Safeguarding Tutor with Sport Ireland.

Darina Barrett is a chartered accountant and has worked in professional practice and international financial services for over 30 years.

She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion and is a member of the steering committee of the 30% club and the steering group for the ICAI.

She is a mother of 4 sporting teenagers. She enjoys open water swimming and is a committee member of Dublin Swimming club.

As Chief Operating Officer at the FAI, David is an experienced Sports Executive, offering Strategic Leadership combined with industry leading Programme Management skills. A solid foundation in Professional Services with Deloitte Consulting has been bolstered with over a decade of experience across a range of world leading Major Events and National Governing Bodies.

Enda is the CEO of Badminton Ireland.

A commercial and sponsorship veteran with some of Ireland’s leading brands, Enda is the former Head of Enterprise at Munster Rugby he oversaw new business ventures for Munster Rugby, the High-Performance Leadership programme, in partnership with University of Limerick.

Previously Enda was Head of Commercial & Marketing with Munster Rugby and a seasoned sponsorship manager, working across a number of sponsorships such as the Irish Rugby team sponsorship, The O2, GAA All-Stars, Ferrari team sponsorship, Champions League etc. for brands both domestically and internationally for over 12 years including O2, Vodafone and Digicel.

Jennifer is a qualified solicitor with experience working in top international law firms in Dublin, London and New York. Jennifer has experience in advising a wide range of clients particularly in the financial services sector, with a focus on helping them navigate the regulated environment, including ensuring that firms have appropriate risk controls in place and are appropriately governed. Jennifer has an undergraduate degree in Law and Business from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge.

Jennifer grew up playing a wide-range of team sports, including basketball at county level and olympic-handball at international level and now participates in triathlon and running events, including trail and ultra-marathons and ironman events.

David is an experienced communications and public affairs professional with extensive experience in across the sport and public sectors. David has worked with a number of organisations in communications, marketing and events roles, including the Federation of Irish Sport, Gymnastics Ireland, Cricket Ireland and Sport Ireland.

David holds a BA from University College Cork, a Diploma in Sports Law from the Law Society of Ireland, and a Diploma in Public Relations and a Certificate in Public Affairs from the PRII.

David is currently Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager with Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority, where he manages the organisation’s interactions with central government, the Houses of the Oireachtas, media and oversees the organisation’s Freedom of Information function.

As Communications and Public Affairs Manager with Sport Ireland from 2016-2022, David led the national sport development agency’s communications and public affairs functions. 

Graham is the Head of Sport in Louth County Council, a role he has held since 2014, which includes the management of Louth Local Sports Partnership. He graduated from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 1996 with a degree in Leisure Management and has 30 years experience working in the Sports and leisure industry. He managed various sporting and community facilities in Dublin and Louth, between 2002 and 2014. 

In 2009 Graham was appointed to the Board of Louth Local Sports Partnership. In 2014, he was tasked with restructuring the provision of sports services in Louth to incorporate the Local Sports Partnership into an integrated Sports Unit.

An advocate for the provision of sustainable sporting and physical activity opportunities for people of all abilities, Graham has overseen the development of a range of accessible facilities, with inclusive staff and a wide range a inclusive opportunities that have created a culture of inclusivity and the Local Sports Partnership in Louth has received several National awards for their integrated approach to the provision of services and opportunities for people with disabilities.

In 2019, Graham was appointed to the Board of the Federation and represents the National Network of 29 Local Sports Partnerships.

Elma Beirne is the Commercial Director of Line Up Sports and is tasked to grow the commercial & sponsorship side of the business across Line Up Sports athlete, brand, rights holder and agency relationships.

Elma has a wealth of both commercial & sporting knowledge and the educational background having worked for the last twelve years in Leinster Rugby, Football Association for Ireland, PRO14 Rugby and more recently UEFA. Elma has a first class honours in Rugby Management from UCD as well as degrees from WIT in Sport and Recreation. Elma is currently lecturing in UCD on the Sports Strategy module of the Sports Management Degree and is a regular guest lecturer for WIT, UCD and DCU in the undergraduate and postgraduate sports courses.

Elma is no stranger to advising and mentoring having qualified as a Life, Business and Executive coach and is also an addiction coach. Elma opened her own coaching practice in 2021 where she works with clients from Managing Directors to athletes on how to best achieve their goals and future ambitions.

Murrough has worked in the Irish sports sector for over 20 years and is Mountaineering Ireland’s CEO since 2016. Previously, he was worked with National Community Games for 8 years and with the IRFU for 9 years in a number of roles. Murrough has been involved in sports as a participant, in Gaelic football, soccer, judo and rugby, where he also volunteered in club committees over the years with the IRFU. Murrough’s spare time nowadays is taken up with his young family who are all involved in multi-sport activities as well as days out on the hills.