Minister O’Keeffe approves new Forfás chief executive appointment

19 July, 2010

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe TD, today [Monday] announced that he has approved the appointment of Martin Shanahan as chief executive of Forfás.

The Board of Forfás has appointed Mr Shanahan chief executive of the agency following Minister O’Keeffe’s approval.

Forfás is the Government’s national policy advisory body for enterprise and science.

Minister O’Keeffe said Mr Shanahan’s appointment was a strong signal of the importance the Government attaches to the agency’s role.

‘Mr Shanahan has a strong track record in industry and public policy and he will bring significant leadership and expertise to the important work of Forfás,’ said Minister O’Keeffe.

ENDS

Editors’ Note: Martin Shanahan joined Forfás in 2005 and he has held the positions of department manager of the human capital and labour market policy department and divisional manager of science, technology, innovation and human capital policy division. Between 1999 and 2005, he held senior positions in Fáilte Ireland and the tourism training agency, CERT. Before that, Mr Shanahan worked in the hotel industry in a number of senior management roles. Mr Shanahan is a member of the high-level implementation committee for the Innovation Taskforce.