I hold a post graduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning as well a post graduate Diploma in Legal Studies. I am a Fellow of the Irish Planning Institute, the professional body representing the majority of planners in Ireland. I have over 38 year’s professional experience, as a town planner, the last 20 of which were working at a Senior level for National Government and County authorities. I have also been involved in Regional Planning at a senior level and have been involved in EU projects at both an international and cross border level. Specifically, I was responsible for the preparation of the Dun Laoghaire Town Centre Integrated Area Plan in 1998, which was approved by the Department of the Environment and Local Government, projects within which attracted tax breaks and financial support. I have since then also supervised the preparation of the following projects. 1)Urban Framework Plans for the urban areas of Manorhamilton, Ballinamore and Mohill, in 2003 2)Urban Framework Plans for Drumshanbo, Drumahaire and Drumkeeran in 2006 3) The Local Area Plan for Carrick on Shannon 2009-2015. This featured integration of flood risk management proposals, SUDS, Smart Travel and greenway networks within the plan.

I was involved in a number of transnational projects as European Liaison Officer for the planning dept. of Dun Laoghaire Corporation / Rathdown County Council. i) RECITE II Project, VALPOMAR was a project in partnership with seven port towns in Europe [Brest (lead) Plymouth, Cadiz, Oporto, Kiel, and Trento] ii) TERRA project, SRUNA which was partnered with 6 Irish Local Authorities, two Irish Regional Authorities, the Regional Authority of Skona and the cities of Malmo and Lund in Sweden. This related to the Sustainable Recreational Use of natural Assets. I had a specific task as the sustainability officer for the overall project. iii) E.U. Exchange of Experience Program on “Impact of Port Traffic on Town Centres”, with Esberg, Denmark. More recently, I represented Leitrim County Council on the working groups for cross border planning co-operation. i) Member of the Steering Committee of the EU Funded INTERREG Programme, Spatial Planning Initiative , managed by ICBAN. I was a key team member that developed this programme and submitted it for funding to the SEUPB. ii) Member of Steering Committee of the EU funded INTERREG projects, CroSPlaN I & II, undertaken by the International Centre for Local and Regional Development Established in 2009, CroSPlaN is a unique Cross-Border partnership that brings together researchers, planners, councilors and officials. CroSPlaN II deliver on three initiatives in 2013 and 2014: The project supports the emerging local / regional