Professor Frank O’Mara takes over as Teagasc Director

Professor Frank O’Mara commenced his new role as Director of Teagasc today, Friday, 1 October. The appointment was made by the Teagasc Authority in July with the consent of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD.

Professor O’Mara is an agricultural scientist and sustainable livestock systems specialist, with over 30 years’ experience in technical and senior managerial capacities in Agri-Food research, education and development institutions.

Since 2009, Professor O’Mara has been the Director of Research in Teagasc, leading the Research Directorate. Under his leadership, the number of peer - reviewed publications has increased from 258 in 2008 to 726 in 2020. This has ensured that Teagasc Research has had a major impact on the agri-food sector and government policy over the last decade supported by national and EU funding and has facilitated the growth in the Walsh Scholarship programme.

He qualified with a first class honours B.Agr.Sc from University College Dublin in 1987, winning the McGuickian medal, and the Hussey Prize for agricultural economics in his final year. He went on to obtain a PhD from UCD in 1993, completing his doctorate research at Teagasc Moorepark. In his early career, he was a senior lecturer, Associate Professor and researcher in UCD for ten years, specialising in animal nutrition and animal production.

Congratulating Professor O’Mara on his appointment, Chairman of Teagasc, Liam Herlihy said; “I look forward to working with Frank as Director of Teagasc. He has a particular interest in sustainable agriculture and food systems and I am confident he will successfully lead Teagasc through the changes required to assist Irish farmers and the Agri-food sector to meet the environmental, economic and social challenges facing the sector. I would like to thank Professor Gerry Boyle for his leadership of the organisation as Director, over the last 14 years.

Living now in County Carlow, Professor O’Mara is a native of Lisronagh in County Tipperary.