Patron
Philip O’Sullivan
In Memoriam
The late Dr. John Temple Lang
Former Director, Directorate General for Competition, European Commission, Brussels. Professor, Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Temple Lang was a brilliant and visionary patron who achieved far-reaching recognition for his involvement in drafting the Birds and Habitats Directives. Having studied wildlife conservation in the USA, Canada, Europe and Ghana, Dr Temple Lang played a key part in most major wildlife conservation developments in Ireland and went on to generously share his specialist knowledge with many of us as part of the IELA and the ICEL.
He was an outstanding lawyer and widely-regarded as an incisive, clear-headed and courageous writer on important issues of environmental and EU law. His passing is a great loss for the IELA but also for the environmental law community more generally. We will always be grateful for his profound contribution to the protection of our environment, biodiversity and nature
Honorary Vice-President
Yvonne Scannell
Professor Scannell lectured in Environmental and Planning Law in Trinity College, Dublin and is a consultant on environmental and planning law to Arthur Cox, Solicitors, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2.
Council Members
Sinéad Martyn
Sinéad is a Senior Associate with McCann FitzGerald, specialising in environmental and planning law.
Maeve Larkin
Maeve is Advisory Counsel at the Office of the Attorney General, specialising in environmental and planning law. She was Chairperson of IELA from 2018 to 2021.
Grainne O’Callaghan
Grainne is a solicitor practising in the area of Planning and Environmental Law at Arthur Cox LLP. Grainne lectures part-time on the TUD Masters of Science in Spatial Planning course and is the current Secretary and Treasurer of the Irish Environmental Law Association.
Rachel Minch
Chairperson of the Irish Environmental Law Association from 2012-2017. Rachel’s legal practice focuses on environmental, planning, public and FOI law with an emphasis on litigation.
Ashling Cronin
Ashling is an ecologist and Chief Operating Officer with Scott Cawley Ltd. She is an experienced practitioner in ecological /environmental assessment and Appropriate Assessment across, working across both the private and public sector. Ashling is also a member of the Natural Capital Ireland Steering Committee.
Deborah Spence S.C.
Specialism in all aspects of waste management, corporate environmental regulatory compliance, land use planning and environmental litigation strategy.
Margaret Austin
Member of the Irish Environmental Law Association since 1999 and was Chairperson of until 2012. Margaret is also the current Treasurer of the European Environmental Law Association.
Paul Scott
Paul is an ecologist with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Niall Handy
Niall is a barrister with a broad commercial and civil practice, with particular expertise in energy, environmental and planning law.
David Browne BL
David Browne BL is a practising barrister specialising in the areas of administrative, local government, planning, environmental and procurement law.
Tim O’Sullivan
Tim O’Sullivan is a Barrister practising at the Law Library. He delivers the quarterly updates to the Association on case law of the Irish Courts.