You are currently driving a structural transformation in the Irish Defence Forces which has been described as the “biggest organisational reimaging in the history of the State.” What are your main priorities as you lead this change?

The role of Head of Transformation came out of the Report of the Commission on Defence Forces (CODF), and the priorities are mostly set out in that report. The report was released in 2022, shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, identifying the need for significant transformation across the Defence Forces. They identified five pillars of change – Strategic HR and cultural change, joint capability development, new command & control and joint structures, reformed and restructured services, and the revitalisation of the reserves. In July of that year, the government then produced their High Level Action Plan. In that, they outlined a commitment to move to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA 2) by 2028. It is a shift in how we position the Defence Forces and in elevating our ambitions.

The High Level Action Plan split the 130 CODF recommendations (including sub-recommendations) into 105 that were accepted and 25 that were going to be reverted back to Government or would need further evaluation before proceeding. The report identified the need to bring in an external civilian Head of Transformation to lead the transformation. My appointment was the first of its kind in terms of a senior civilian being hired reporting directly to the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces.

In 2023, the Independent Review Group (IRG) on the Defence Forces produced a report in the wake of serious allegations and questions about inappropriate behaviour, particularly towards women. After that, the Tánaiste outlined his wish to have a strategic framework which would bring together the recommendations of the Commission and the IRG report and all other plans relating to the transformation of the Defence Forces. I have said previously that although my title is Head of Transformation it could really be “transformations” plural – as we are simultaneously

implementing cultural, organisational, digital and structural transformations across the Defence Forces. There is a huge amount of change happening, but the initial priority as stated by Tánaiste Micheál Martin is cultural transformation.

We have unfortunately had high-profile issues of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviours – especially towards female members of the forces. Significant work has and is being done to ensure that the Culture of the Defence Forces is one where it is clear that any such behaviours will not be tolerated. New training programmes have been implemented to ensure that there is unambiguous understanding of the standards required of all our members. New structures and processes are being implemented to ensure that where inappropriate behaviour does occur, any victim of inappropriate behaviour can have absolute confidence that it will be immediately and properly investigated and that it will not be tolerated.

Each of the 130 recommendations from the Report of the Commission on Defence Forces has a start and completion date set out in the Detailed Implementation Plan. Ultimately, I will not transform the Defence Forces as an individual; the actual transformation comes from within and across the Defence Forces and will be driven by the members of the Defence Forces at all levels. My team ensures that there is a framework and support in place to enable that transformation – to ensure that deadlines are met, and reports submitted. I oversee the Programme Management function, and the reporting structures around that are fed into the independently chaired Implementation Oversight Group and also feed into the quarterly Strategic Framework monitoring structures. We have made some substantial progress already and will be publishing an update on the plan by the end of the year.

This new role is a huge undertaking in terms of embedding yourself within the military culture and vernacular as a civilian. What kind of challenges have you faced so far, and what has surprised you most about the organisation?

My lack of military background was obviously a challenge but there are also advantages to that. I didn’t have any preconceived notions as to what should or shouldn’t be happening; it was a steep, almost vertical, learning curve. I have done that a few times in my career, so I am relatively good at assimilating a lot of information and getting my head around how an organisation works and where I can add value. When I got the job, people asked me: “How are you going to be welcomed as a civilian leader?” I have to say, military personnel at all levels were hugely welcoming of me and the programme. I have encountered no resistance or reluctance to engage.

It’s a very regulated environment that we’re operating within. There’s a strong legislative underpinning that governs what happens in the Defence Forces. So, a lot of thought and engagement goes into the implementation of any changes. The biggest surprise for me was the breadth of all that happens within the Defence Forces. There is a huge array of different roles across and within the Services. You have soldiers, air crews and sailors, but you also have electricians, mechanics, chefs, engineers, logisticians, HR, PR marketing, communications, IT and cybersecurity.

As part of the military education process, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers are Degree qualified and Senior Officers are qualified with a Master’s Degree. Many personnel pursue further studies themselves. The Defence Forces have relationships across the academic world and the vast majority of the training offered to personnel is academically structured. We have a long-established relationship with the University of Galway and a very significant number of our personnel are former graduates. Personnel also have free access to state-of-the-art gyms. With my Camogie Association hat on, this offers a fantastic opportunity in terms of career opportunities for camogie players.

Fitness and health are core parts of a career in the Defence Forces. There is a requirement for a certain level of physical fitness, and part of the job is to retain and improve that level of fitness. With your average job, a camogie player is trying to find time outside of work to spend in the gym, which is challenging and costly. In the Defence Forces, the time and equipment are made available to you as part of your job. And there are physical trainers there to guide you. In addition, there is also access to unmatched health support benefits including free semi-private healthcare for all serving personnel, free dental care, free physiotherapy service and free pharmacy.

Recruitment and Retention of personnel is certainly a challenge that has been covered extensively in the media and one we know we have to continue to tackle. We have seen notable success in terms of attracting new personnel. You can join as a general service recruit at 18 years of age, carry out 24 weeks of training and earn a salary of just over €40,000 p.a. Very few careers offer that income plus full pension, healthcare and dental care, gym facilities, accommodation and dining. The package of benefits is not to be understated, particularly in the current environment. The cadet competition for the fast-track Officer recruitment programme was significantly oversubscribed recently. We also have several thousand applications for the rolling General Service recruitment programme.

On the retention front we have made some notable positive changes to the terms and conditions of existing personnel – on the pay & conditions front as well as well as in areas like infrastructure, equipment, family friendly policies etc. We also recently saw changes to the Mandatory Retirement Ages which will be of benefit to retaining our personnel.

Promotion prospects are partly built around education and training. We have made those programmes easier to access. Remote working models don’t always work in the Defence Forces. You can’t go out on a patrol ship or carry out a mission from home. There are, however, components including training programmes that can be attended remotely or on a hybrid basis. We’re trying to make the Defence Forces a more welcoming, modern workplace that meets the demands of today’s society and particularly, a more attractive place for women and men to join and to build a career.

In terms of equipment, we have a huge capability development plan in process which will help ensure we transform to a modern fit-for-purpose Defence Force capable of meeting the challenges of today and the future.

We are well recognised for our peacekeeping overseas and the full extent of the resilience, leadership and professionalism of our overseas personnel at all levels and ranks has been

particularly evident over recent months. However, people may not be aware of just how well we compare on the international stage; members of the Irish Defence Forces regularly win international military competitions. Our Irish Snipers, Combat Medics and Reconnaissance teams in particular have had great success in recent years against the best in the world.

An Irish Defence Forces team recently won the prestigious annual military competition “Exercise Arduous Serpent” run by the British Army, an international competition which tests medical unit capabilities and performance under pressure. A good reflection of how highly regarded our personnel are in the international context was evidenced by our Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Seán Clancy being recently elected as incoming head of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC).

One further area where the Defence Forces has received recognition is in the area of large-scale drug interdiction. One example of this took place recently, where a record amount of drugs were halted while in transit. That was a hugely complex and dangerous operation, and the entire operation was completed in rough seas by a multi-agency team including Army, Navy and Air Corp personnel.

You were recently appointed as the first male Uachtarán of the Camogie Association. What is your vision for women’s sports in Ireland, particularly as concerns have been expressed by female players around equality and sexism in the GAA?

The funding and sponsorship of female sports in Ireland has improved immensely in recent years but still lags behind where it should be. I am a huge advocate for the expansion of supports for female participation in Sport and for the integration of Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and ladies’ football under one organisational structure. At the moment, we have one structure for men’s sports (GAA), and then there are two separate organisations for ladies’ sports (LGFA and Camogie Association). From my perspective, as soon as we move towards an integrated model across the Gaelic Games family, the better. There will be challenges along the way but I remain firmly of the view that the sooner we combine, the better able we will be to collectively meet those challenges.

The GAA and the Camogie Association have a very close and positive relationship, and I have had very positive engagement with the GAA leadership over recent months and years – in my experience we are very much aligned on the importance of female participation in Gaelic Games and I have also found that they are very much committed to the integration process. To use that time-honoured phrase, “Ní neart go cur le chéile”, which means that there is no strength without unity.

One of the areas that I do get frustrated about is the recognition and positioning of camogie in Ireland. UNESCO has recognised the unique cultural contribution made by camogie and hurling,

including the sport in the ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. They have recognised it as a fundamental part of our culture. If you go to any national school in the country, children are learning about our culture – our history, our language, our dance. They are not always learning about camogie. I am a huge advocate of the simple principle that every girl in every national school in the country should be provided with access to camogie. They should be given the opportunity to play our national sport.

When Ciara Mageean won gold in the 1,500m final at European Championships, she was caught between two British athletes at the last bend, but she saw a gap and she burst through. In the interview immediately after her gold-winning performance, she said, “I didn’t grow up playing camogie to get boxed in.” I am a strong supporter of allowing and indeed encouraging children to play multiple sports. In my experience children thrive on playing multiple sports.

When you first started the MBA course at J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, did you foresee yourself in a role like this? Did the programme prepare you for the challenges of managing a project of this scale?

My background was not particularly academic – I finished my Leaving Cert on a Thursday and started a job in a bank the following Monday. I got that job based on an interview and predicted Leaving Cert results. I then worked with several financial service firms, before moving to Galway in 2006 to work for HC Financial. The 2008 financial crisis had a significant impact on the firm, and I give great credit to my employer HC Financial who sponsored me to do the MBA at University of Galway at that time.

I did the MBA for a couple of reasons. One was to expand my skillset and knowledge. The other reason was more personal; as I mentioned, I had never gone to college. I had worked my way up from the bottom and had been operating at senior management level for several years at that stage and had participated in lots of Management/Talent development programmes, but there was always an academic qualifications gap there in my mind.

The MBA gave me a huge amount of self-confidence and self-belief because I was among a class of really intelligent people, highly educated people, and I was performing well. I did the Diploma in Management and the MBA, and I got a 1:1 in both. That experience and achievement gave me a great boost and provided me with an academic framework in terms of strategic management, planning and critical thinking that I have used since.

The MBA gave me the confidence to say that I wanted to do something different. Within HC I set up a business consulting division and worked as an interim CEO and interim COO with a number of clients. In 2019, I decided to radically change direction and after 30+ years in the Private Sector, I was appointed as Principal Officer in the Department of Social Protection. This gave me a fantastic opportunity to really test myself and to leverage the learnings from my MBA.

On appointment as Principal Officer, I oversaw a large operational area including the largest disability schemes in the country, 200+ staff and an annual budget of about 2.2 billion. Without the MBA, and the skillset and confidence that it offered, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to take on that level of change in career. But I did and was successful and it then led to my being appointed Chief Appeals Officer in the Department of Social Protection and from there I was appointed to my current role as Head of Transformation for the Irish Defence Forces.