Tom Parlon, Director General, Construction Industry Federation

Before joining the CIF, Tom served as a TD for Laois – Offaly and as Minister for State at the Department of Finance from 2002 until 2007. As Minister he was responsible for the Office for Public Works (OPW).

From 1997 to 2001, Tom was President of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), having previously held several other positions with the association.

David Conway, Chief Executive Officer

David Conway is Chief Executive Officer of Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC and charged with delivering the single largest programme of investment in real estate outside of Dublin. The Limerick native is former CEO of the National Sports Campus Development Authority. A former teacher, MBA graduate and Project Manager, David was previously involved with the developments and operations of Sports Facilities at the National Sports Campus including the National Aquatic Centre and National Indoor Arena, University of Limerick as their Sports Administrator; as Head of Sports at Dublin City University

James Benson, Director of Housing, Planning & Development, the CIF

JJames Benson is a qualified Engineer and Quantity Surveyor graduating from Waterford Institute of Technology and Dublin Institute of Technology respectively. James spent several years of his professional career surveying with building contractors before specializing in the field of passive fire protection before joining CIF.

 James offers support and advise to the members, liaison with local authorities and is developing a field of expertise within building regulations and planning services for members.

 He also services the following regional branches of the CIF – Kildare, Kilkenny/ Carlow, North East, Wicklow/ North Wexford

Frank Kelly, President, Construction Industry Federation

Walls Construction is a top 10 building contractor with a turnover in excess of €250m. Frank is a past president of the MBCA, chair of the CIF Safety Health and Welfare committee and Senior Vice President CIF. He brings over 25 years industry experience operating across a broad range of the industry sectors including commercial, healthcare, education, industrial, retail, conservation and tourism/leisure, Frank has been responsible for the delivery of some notable projects – the Westin Hotel Westmorland Street, Trinity Biosciences and school of medicine Pearse Street and the new Central Bank headquarters on North wall Quay.

Michael Joyce CIF Mid-West Branch Chairman 

Managing Director of MP Joyce Contracting Ltd Michael Joyce began his career in construction as a site engineer in the early 80s with Moy Contractors – a leading main contracting company in both Galway and Limerick.

He later joined Henry Connolly Builder Ltd as a surveyor and contracts manager. He became a full member of the Chartered Institute of Building in 1990, in which he served as treasurer and chairman of the Western Centre.

In 1993 Michael set up his own contracting company, where he now manages on and off site commercial, industrial and residential projects in the Mid-West Region. As Chairman of the CIF Mid West Branch Michael works with Mid-Western members and stakeholders to ensure maximum investment in infrastructure in the rLisa Kearney MIPAV REV MMCEPI Director & Head of Residential & New Homes Sales A Company Director and the head of Rooney’s Residential and New Homes Sales department,

Lisa has significant experience in Limerick’s residential market and in the Muster area having been in the business for 27 years. Lisa has successfully negotiated the sale of a number of high profile residential properties and new home developments in the greater Limerick region over the years and is also on the valuation panels of all major lending institutions. Lisa is a member of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers as well having an honours degree in Counselling & Psychotherapy, a diploma in Property Law and a certificate in Marketing from the Marketing Institute. “As an auctioneer specialising in residential property I have always brought abundant energy, creativity

Dearbhla Lawson, Head of Strategic Planning, Land Development Agency (LDA)

Dearbhla Lawson leads the LDA’s strategic planning function, with a focus on building a stable and sustainable pipeline of housing land supply and progressing plans to deliver compact and sustainable development. A key aim is to optimise use of relevant state lands, and in particular under-utilised and strategically located sites to rejuvenate and catalyse their potential. A recent example of this is LDA’s proposals to unlock the potential around Colbert Station and transform the area s part of a 20 year plan which Dearbhla will talk more about. See www.colbertquarter.ie which is open for consultation currently. Prior to her current role, Dearbhla worked as Director of Services in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council and previously as Head of Transport & Strategic Planning in Cambridgeshire and a number of government and consultancy roles.

Tony Wallace, B.Sc. (Hons.), Assoc. SCSI, RICS, Associate Director, Senior Valuer & Head of Property Management, Rooney

As Head of Rooney’s property management & lettings department, Tony oversees the management of a large portfolio of properties in the Munster & Connaught regions.
Tony is the immediate past Chair of SCSI Southern Region, holds an honours degree in Property Valuation & Management and is currently enrolled in a masters degree in Real Estate Investment Finance with Oxford Brookes in the UK.
In an addition to his 15 years industry experience, Tony also lectures in property valuations and the private rented sector in the SCSI/Dublin Technological University Degree course, Cork College of Commerce & University College of Estate Management in the UK

Paul Lennon, Head of Offshore Wind, ESB

Paul Lennon leads the offshore wind business in ESB. Since ESB initial entry into offshore wind in 2017, the company now has approximately 1,000MW of offshore wind operational, in construction or at late stage development. In addition, ESB has established a multi gigawatt portfolio of projects across Ireland and Britain. Prior to that Paul lead the development of ESB’s onshore wind portfolio.

Paul is an engineer and began his career at ESB in 2008. Paul holds Masters in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration and is a Chartered Engineer.