The Authority

Our 11 member Authority is appointed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine and has representatives from the farming organisations, the food industry, the universities, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Teagasc staff.

Authority Vacancies

In September 2014, the Government decided that The Public Appointments Service (PAS), established under statute in 2004, be given responsibility for putting in place an open, accessible, rigorous and transparent system to support Ministers in making appointments to State Boards, including Teagasc. A dedicated website, http://www.stateboards.ie is the channel through which the PAS advertises vacancies on State Boards. It is also the means through which accomplished, experienced and qualified people, including people who might not previously have been identified as available for appointment, can then apply to be considered for particular vacancies.

The Authority meets on the first Wednesday of every month except in August. The Authority also has five committees as follows: Advisory and Education Committee, Audit & Risk Committee, Nominations Committee, Operations Committee and Research Committee.

Code of Business Conduct for members of the Teagasc Authority.


Mr Liam Herlihy (Chairman)	Mr. Herlihy is a dairy farmer from County Waterford. He was appointed Chairman of FBD Holdings in May 2017 having joined the Board in 2015. Previously he was Group Chairman of Glanbia Plc for over 7 years in the period to June 2015. Mr Herlihy is a former Director of the Irish Dairy Board (now Ornua) and ICOS.
Mr Tommy Cooke	Dairy farmer and member of ICMSA’s National Council. Former Chairman ICMSA Dairy Committee and Rural Development Committee.
Professor Gerald Fitzgerald	Chair of Food Microbiology & Head of School of Microbiology at UCC. First Directo/CEO of Food for Health Ireland & Deputy Director of Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre.
Mr Patrick Duffy	Dairy farmer and Chairman of Aurivo Co-operative Society LTD. Representative of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS). Pat was nominated by ICOS.
Ms. Eilís O’Connell	Assistant Secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for Human Resources and Corporate Affairs.
Mr John Buckley	Dairy farmer and former recipient of the FBD Young Farmer of the Year 2013 and Nuffield Scholarship in 2015. John was nominated by Macra na Feirme.
Ms Martina Donnelly	Business and Technology Advisor at Teagasc, Advisory and Training Centre, Mellows Campus, Athenry, Co. Galway. Teagasc Staff Representative.
Ms Cliona Murphy	Vice-President Research & Development, PepsiCo Nutrition and site lead for PepsiCo's Cork R&D Centre.
Mr Richard Kennedy	Dairy Farmer and Deputy President of the Irish Farmers’ Association.
Mr Liam Woulfe	Managing Director of Grassland AGRO and of Freshgrass Group.
Professor Thia Hennessy	Chair of Agri-Food Economics and Dean of Cork University Business School at University College Cork.