Simon Coveney is a T.D. for the Cork South Central constituency, Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Brexit.

Born in Cork, Mr. Coveney holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture and Land Management from The Royal Agricultural University, Gloucestershire. He was also educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare; University College Cork and Gurteen Agricultural College, County Tipperary.

Mr. Coveney has previously served as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Minister for Defence. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and was a member of the EPP-ED group. Mr. Coveney was the author of the European Parliament’s Annual Report on Human Rights in the World for the year 2004 and again for 2006.

A keen fan of all competitive sport, he played rugby for Garryowen, Cork Constitution and Crosshaven Rugby Club. In 1997/8 he led the “Sail Chernobyl Project” which involved sailing 30,000 miles around the world for charity.

Mr. Coveney continues to be involved in the running of a family farm in County Cork. He is married to Ruth, with three daughters.

Michael Creed is a T.D. for the Cork North-West constituency and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Born in Macroom, Minister Creed was educated at St. Colman's College, Fermoy, De La Salle College, Macroom, at University College Cork and the College of Commerce, Rathmines.

He was a member of Cork County Council from 1987 until 2007. He was elected chairman from 2005 to 2006.

He was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1989 general election and retained his seat until 2002.

He was chairman of the Dáil Small Business and Services Committee from 1995-97. He was party spokesperson on Education, Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (1994), Health (1989-93) and Youth and Sport (1993-94).

After regaining his Dáil seat at the 2007 general election, he was party spokesperson on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (2007-2010). At the 2011 general election he topped the poll in the first preference vote and in the 2016 general election he was the first to be elected.

He was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on 6th May 2016 and reappointed on 14th June 2017.

Dr Tara Shine is an expert in the field of climate change. With more than 20 years’ experience influencing and informing international and national policy making to ensure equity, gender equality, inclusion and environmental protection, Tara advises world leaders, governments, multilateral agencies and civil society organisations on climate change, environmental policy and development assistance.

She has worked as a climate negotiator at the UN for 10 years and acted as a reviewer of the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. She is a guest lecturer on several degrees and masters’ courses in Irish Universities and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development. Dr Shine is an alumna of Homeward Bound, the global leadership programme for women in science.

As an environmental scientist Tara understands the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on people and their rights. Her focus is on solutions that are accessible to all.

Jim Gannon has been Chief Executive of SEAI since May 2016, and has overseen the growth of the organization from a budget of €75m to €150m, initiating a change process across a range of incentive programmes and delivering SEAI’s policy advisory and statutory functions for the Government of Ireland.

Prior to this role, Jim spent 15 years in the private sector with RPS working in energy and environmental consultancy on both policy and infrastructure projects.

Stephen is a Senior Manager with Enterprise Ireland, the Irish  government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. Included in his portfolio is Enterprise Ireland’s focus on Marine & the Renewable Energy Sectors.

Stephen has over 30 years experience in economic and export development including 13 years overseas, where he more recently led Ireland’s drive to build export growth in UK and Northern Europe. Based in London, Stephen led the operations of the agency with teams in the UK, France, Benelux and Scandinavia . He has also undertaken assignments in Eastern Europe and the Middle East as well as holding key regional and sector lead positions with Enterprise Ireland. He is a former board member of the Design and Craft Council of Ireland and Irish Design 2015.

Stephen has extensive experience in advising Government and in working at sector, national, regional and international levels in supporting the development and growth of Irish SME’s.

Gerard is an oceanographer working at ICARUS (Irish Climate Research and Analysis Unit) and a lecturer in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University.

Gerard previously worked at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, where he worked with the RAPID team measuring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

He is a leading observational physical oceanographer, with particular interest in changing ocean circulation and sea level rise. He is the 2019 recipient of the IAPSO early career medal for physical oceanography.

Dr Cait Murray-Green, founder and CEO of CuanTec with over 15 years’ experience in working with scientists to help grow and develop businesses. She began as a research scientist and then moved through product development, sales and business development roles in international companies as well as having roles in the public sector supporting others to commercialise their ideas.

The story of CuanTec predates the global awakening to the damage of ocean plastic pollution, and they are acknowledged as one of Scotland’s leading companies in the Bioeconomy area. Winners of the Higgs Edge prize at Scottish Edge in June 2017 and winners of the RSPB Nature in Scotland Innovation award in Nov 2018 as well as being successful in the JLAB innovation challenge from John Lewis Partnership, CuanTec have developed a Circular Economy approach to using technology from the marine environment to prevent further Ocean pollution and also to reduce food waste.

Jamie joined the Sky Ocean Ventures team to lead the fund’s investment processes and portfolio management.  Before joining the team, Jamie has experience across the early stage investment lifecycle at four different venture capital funds in both the UK and US and has been part of building strategies around two new fund launches.  Jamie has also been part of the founding teams of, and continues to advise, two early stage technology businesses here in the UK.

Jamie is a graduate from the MBA program at UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in Los Angeles, California (Price Award for Entrepreneurial Studies).  Prior to his MBA, Jamie was a private equity lawyer for six years in the UK and the Middle East and is a graduate of the University of Bristol.

Peter Thomson is a Fijian diplomat who served as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations from September 2016 until September 2017. He was Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 2010 and 2016. For the year 2014, he was elected President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS).

He led the Fiji team of diplomats that in 2013 chaired the Group of 77 and China – the UN’s largest negotiating group comprised of 133 developing countries. He was elected as President of the International Seabed Authority’s Assembly in 2011 and as President of its Council in 2015. In October 2017, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ambassador Thomson as the first UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, in which role he is driving the implementation of SDG14, the UN Sustainable Development Agenda’s goal to conserve and sustainably use the resources of the Ocean.