Minister Ross announces appointments to Board of Sport Ireland
The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD today announced that two new members are to be appointed to the Board of Sport Ireland and two current members are to be re-appointed for a second term.
The new members are:
Lynn Cantwell
Gary Ryan
The re-appointed members are:
Mary Dorgan
Liam Sheedy
Minister Ross said: “Today I appointed Lynn Cantwell and Gary Ryan to the Board of Sport Ireland and re-appointed Mary Dorgan and Liam Sheedy for a second term on the Board. Both of the new members have skills and expertise which will be of enormous value to the work of Sport Ireland. The two members who are being re-appointed already have an immense knowledge and experience of the organisation and its strategies.”
Welcoming the appointments, Sport Ireland Chairman Kieran Mulvey said: “I am delighted to welcome the two new members to the Board of Sport Ireland. They are an excellent addition to the Board and their knowledge and background will be of great benefit in our important work for Irish Sport. I also welcome the re-appointment of two of our Board members who have already made a valuable contribution to Irish Sport in their first term on the Board. I look forward to working with the new members in the ongoing implementation of our strategic objectives for sport in Ireland, and the ongoing development of participation in sport, high performance sport, anti-doping, coaching, the Sport Ireland Institute and the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.”
The two new appointments follow on from an application and shortlisting process run by the Public Appointments Service earlier this year based on a public advertisement and a further assessment procedure that was introduced by Minister Ross.
Newly Appointed Board Members
Lynne Cantwell is Ireland’s most capped woman in Irish rugby and a former Vice-Captain & Captain for Ireland’s 15s & 7s team. She has represented Ireland 86 times over a 13 year period and jointly led Ireland to their first ever Six Nations Triple Crown, Grand Slam title and victory over World Champions, New Zealand 2013/14. Since retiring she has continued to represent and help progress the game.
Gary Ryan is the UL Beo Project Manager at University of Limerick. He is a twice Olympic Athlete, a World Indoor medalist, a former Director of Coaching for Athletics Ireland and has coached athletes and teams at World European and Olympic level from youths to seniors. He was also Head of Fitness for the Tipperary Senior Hurling team for several years. In his current role he is developing partnerships and programmes in Sport and Physical Activity with high performance, community and industry engagements that benefit individuals, sporting organisations, communities and industry and on the University of Limerick’s teaching, service and research output.
Re-appointed Board Members:
Mary Dorgan retired from the position of Assistant Chief Executive with the Health and Safety Authority. Mary joined the HSA from Waterford Crystal where she had the role of Human Resources Manager. Mary has served on many Boards and committees, most recently the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and Waterford Healing Arts. Mary is a certified member (CEDR) of the Mediation Institute of Ireland. She was a board member of the Irish Sports Council and has served on the board of Sport Ireland since October 2015.
Liam Sheedy is Regional Manager with Bank of Ireland. A former Tipperary hurler he went on the manage his county to All-Ireland Minor glory in 2006 and delivered National League and two Munster titles at senior level before capturing All-Ireland success in 2010. Liam was re-appointed as manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team in September 2018. Liam was a board member of the Irish Sports Council and has served on the board of Sport Ireland