Principal Adviser, Marine Environment (Water Division), Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Ireland
Chair, OSPAR Commission
Richard Cronin is Principal Adviser for the marine environment in the Irish government. He leads a team that develop and implement policy, programmes and measures and legislation for the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment. He is Marine Director for Ireland under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and is responsible for the expansion of Ireland’s network of marine protected areas. He represents Ireland at EU, macro-regional and global levels and negotiates for Ireland and as part of the EU team in different fora. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from University College, Cork and has extensive experience in environmental protection, international negotiations and multilateral cooperation; policy design and implementation; and systems analysis and governance. He is responsible for the implementation of the Convention of the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) in Ireland and was chair of the OSPAR Commission from 2018 – 2022.