Fiona O’Shea
Fiona is a Transport Manager with a mission to enable social, economic and healthcare improvement in rural Donegal through the provision of a first class model of integrated transport.
A native of Co Donegal, Fiona’s unique background as a Business Owner with a lifetime involvement in Community Development and Voluntary Work meant that she was well positioned to see the inherent difficulty in providing a rural transport service for the northwest in 2007.The regions size, geography, location, economy and demographic presented a significant challenge. However, Fiona also saw the pressing need and the potential. Quick to see gaps in provision sitting alongside duplication of some services, Fiona developed a vision for an integrated model of rural transport which led to a successful pilot with the HSE in 2009.
Today as well as rural transport services throughout Donegal Fiona manages, the HSE Community Health Day Services transport and all non-emergency acute, private Ambulances and dispatch transport for Letterkenny University Hospital including Renal Dialysis. This involves coordinating between 45 Private Operators and 120 Drivers to provide 700 weekly return routes and services totaling 320,000 annual passenger journeys.
Tim Cairns
Director Public Affairs (NI), Community Transport Association UK
In September 2016, Tim assumed the post of Northern Ireland Director for the Community Transport Association UK. Having served as a Special Adviser in the office of the First Minister and at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Tim’s background is in public policy and affairs. Tim also served as Director of Policy for a political party and has worked in the voluntary sector, both in Northern Ireland and Canada, for over 15 years. A non-practising barrister, Tim has been engaged widely in development, implementation and advocacy, across a range of diverse policy areas
Declan Meally
Declan is Head of Department with responsibility for the Emerging Sectors in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Ireland’s national body for sustainable energy policy and programmes. SEAI’s mission is to play a leading role in transforming Ireland into a society based on sustainable energy structures, technologies and practices. It advises Government on sustainable energy policy, trends and impacts, and delivers a range of programmes to promote the adoption of new efficient and renewable technologies and behaviours. Declan has worked in SEAI since 2004 and previously worked in Management in Xerox (Europe) Ltd and the Irish Defence Forces. He holds Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering
David O Connor
David O’Connor is Senior Lecturer at the School of Transport Engineering, Environment and Planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology, where he specialises in the areas of Transport Planning and Urban Design. David is involved in developing new methodologies and partnerships for better sustainable transport and community development in Ireland. He is Programme Coordinator for the M.Sc. Spatial Planning, a part-time postgraduate planning degree which targets experienced professionals in the built environment sector. David has 24 years professional and academic experience across the transport operations and planning sectors.David is a member of the Irish Planning Institute and Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics of Ireland.
John Moran
John Moran is a member of the board of the European Investment Bank and Founder and Chief Executive of RHH International, a thought-leadership consulting and social entrepreneurship company. John is widely recognised as a trusted strategic advisor, a network builder, and a careful analyser of macro-trends, especially future directions for economic, regional and spatial development. He is passionate about sectors such as the sharing economy, transport, financial and investment services. His work has been acknowledged at home in Ireland and internationally, most recently, by the decision of the President of the French Republic to bestow on him the rank of “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merit” (Knight of the Order of Merit).
Prior to establishing RHH International, John served as Secretary General at Ireland's Department of Finance. During that time, he was instrumental in helping guide Ireland’s post-crisis economic recovery, drove the restructuring of the Irish banking sector and the disposal of non-core assets. He also played a pivotal role in influencing Europe’s move towards greater non-bank financing and a recognition of the need for an EU capital markets union.
He has worked in a wide variety of other roles in aviation finance, in banking and capital markets, as a New York and Irish lawyer and as a banking supervisor at the Central Bank of Ireland. He studied law, taxation and financial mathematics at University College Dublin, University of Pennsylvania and Dublin City University. At 21 years, he became one ofthe youngestpersons to be called to the Bar of the State of New York.
As a social entrepreneur John is equally passionate that he and RHH support a number of not-for-profit organisations drawn from interconnected spheres. He has helped establish and serves as Chair of Narrative 4 Europe (education and empathy). He is Chair of the Hunt Museum in Limerick and is involved in the restoration in Cordes-sur-Ciel of a 13th Century medieval home classified as a National Monument by the French government (culture and arts) and is an active member of the Limerick Economic Forum and a board member of the Foundation building the new municipal library in Dublin’s North inner-city (regional and urban development). For his on-going work in Limerick, he was awarded the 2016 President’s Award by Limerick Chamber.
Tim Gaston
Tim is the Director of Public Transport Services in the National Transport Authority. In this role Tim’s team has responsibility for the provision of bus, train and tram services in the State. Public transport services are provided through a number of differing mechanisms including tendering (e.g. Luas services), direct award contracts (Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Irish Rail) and licensing (e.g. Expressway, Matthews Coaches, Aircoach and many others).
Tim’s Directorate also has responsibility for the Rural Transport Programme, a state funded initiative targeting rural isolation and providing connectivity for rural dwellers. The brief also includes integration measures such as the Leap card scheme, Real Time Passenger Information, Journey and cycle planning Apps and website and fares and subvention decisions.
Tim is also involved in the development and roll out of a single brand for public transport across the State called “Transport for Ireland (TfI) which is being used progressively as the single point of contact for public transport information and provides a unifying brand, easily recognised and trusted by all.
Previously Tim was Head of Ticketing and Integration Measures at the National Transport Authority of Ireland. In this role Tim led the project implementing integrated ticketing into Ireland. The scheme called the Leap card, was launched late December 2011 and now accounts for well over 60% of passenger transport in the State.