Our Team
The Steering Committee is elected at our annual AGM. Its role is to provide policy,
governance and oversight. A non-executive committee its members are not remunerated for their services.
Alan Robinson
As Alan Robinson has worked in the Docklands for 8 years and lived in the area for five, he now considers himself a Dockland native, a south side one.
Passionate about enterprise and evangelical about all the positive possibilities of Docklands, Alan has been a member of the Docklands Business Forum since 2009.
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He served two consecutive years as Chairman from 2011 to 2013. Honoured as the Docklands Business Person of the Year in 2012, in December of the same year he was appointed the Forum’s first Chief Executive Officer.
Alan has brought a number of initiatives to the Forum including the Docklands Volunteer Clean-Up and the Docklands Business Awards. He has also written many of the Forum’s policy papers including its observations to Dublin City Council on the Strategic Development Zone, its response to the introduction of a Public Service Broadcasting Charge and the Forum’s vision for the future of the Docklands business district ‘Joining Up the Docks’. All these documents are available for download from the Forum’s website.
Author of the Docklands Business Forum’s Opening Statement to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture & the Gaeltacht, Alan lead the Docklands business delegation before the committee.
Not bad for a south side Docklander.
Laura Shilling
I am currently Commercial Business Coordinator at Three Ireland. A professional and experienced client relationship/business development manager with over 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services Sector in banking, credit insurance, payments sector and Credit Unions.
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Excellent track record of having delivered in product/market development, service delivery and sales. Customer oriented with a drive to delivering innovative solutions for both internal and external customers.
Cathal McGlinchey
Cathal is the National Sales and Marketing Director, for Travelodge Ireland/Tifco hotels with over 32 years working in the hospitality and travel industry. He has worked in the United States for 10 years, along with the U.K and Irish markets. He has been on hotel opening teams in Washington D.C, Boston and Ireland.
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In 2023 he was involved in opening Dublin's largest city centre budget property, the 393 room Travelodge PLUS hotel in Dublin Docklands.
Cathal is an experienced marketing professional with a post graduate level 9 Diploma in Marketing and Management, from TU Dublin in association with the Marketing Institute of Ireland. Cathal is passionate about travel and has climbed Kilimanjaro in 2011 with Oxfam, and completed the Inca trail, Peru in 2019. He lives in the Liberties and is proud to promote Dublin as a destination for leisure and business travellers.
Conall O’Callaghan
Conall O Callaghan is Head of Business Growth with Savvi Credit Union, who have their head office in the Docklands on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. He joined Savvi in September 2021 from Bank of Ireland’s retail banking division. With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector,
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Conall has an extensive background in personal & business lending, and people management. He holds a BA from UCD, QFA from the IOB, and an MBA from DCU.
‘The Credit Union ethos prioritises our local community, its’ people, and businesses, so I am honoured to have the opportunity to serve on the Docklands Business Forum steering committee’
Conor O’Kane
Conor O’Kane is the General Manager of Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, with over 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry. For the past 20 years, he has been a key contributor to the growth and success of businesses in the Dublin Docklands area. Conor is actively involved in advocating
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for the Docklands community, serving on several boards and forums. His contributions have earned him recognition, including the prestigious Docklander of the Year award. Conor served as President of the Dublin Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation and was appointed by the Minister for Planning and Local Government to the Docklands Oversight and Consultative Forum representing Dockland’s 12 hotels. Conor is also a Fellow of the Irish Hospitality Institute College of Fellows.
Michael Noel Harte
Michael Noel Harte has been working in the Docklands for the last fifteen years.
Michael Noel is one of the founder members of the Docklands Business Forum. He has been appointed Chairman since 2016 and more recently as Director.
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Michael Noel is also Managing Director of Mail Boxes Etc, a Docklands logistics company which offers Pack & Ship, Storage and Shredding services.
Garret Merrinan
Garret Marrinan is General Manager at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin Docklands. A native of Dublin, Garret is an experienced Multi property Hotel General Manager with over 30 years international experience. A graduate of TUD College in Dublin and Cornell University USA, Garret graduated from the Marriott Hotels mgmt.
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programme in the United States before returning to Europe where he worked as GM with the Choice Hotel Group in their London and Dublin properties.
The Gibson Hotel is part of the Dalata Hotel Group and Garret recently returned to the hotel having worked as Integration Manager for the Dalata Hotel Group as part of their growth & expansion into Contental Europe.
Garret is delighted to be back at the Gibson Hotel, to be part of the Dublin Docklands team and excited about the improvements and continued development of this amazing area.
Betty Ashe
Betty is the local community representative on the Forum Steering Committee. Betty has been involved in the local community in a voluntary capacity for the past 46 years. She considers her involvement as a member of the team of St. Andrews Resource Centre uplifting, working to improve quality of
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life for local people.
Betty was instrumental in setting up St. Andrews Job Centre and trained in the Dutch Method of Job Placement. Psychology, Counselling and Facilitation followed and brought her into a wider arena of interests. Betty’s appointment to the Board of the Dublin Inner City Partnership was valuable in sitting on a Board with Public Agencies and Employers and making decisions in the interest of empowering people to up skill and to take necessary actions for their communities around the areas of infrastructure, education and employment.
It was a natural transition to then be appointed to the Counsel of Dublin Docklands Development Authority representing the Dublin 2 area community which she has continued to do for the past 16 years. Betty now works as External Liaison Co-ordinator making connections with agencies operating in the area including Waterways Ireland, Dublin City Council, Dublin Port, Trinity College and the Docklands Business Forum, proactively promoting local cohesion in the interest of developing a sustainable neighbourhood where we can live, work and welcome visitors and take a pride in playing a role.
Johnny McElhinney
Johnny is Managing Partner of John McElhinney & Co., Chartered Accountants, est. in 1961. He was awarded the Chartered Accountants Ireland Diploma in Forensic Accounting, passing with Distinction. This further enables him to provide helpful and practical advice and information to clients in relation to matrimonial
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disputes, companies needing forensic accounting expertise or personal injury cases.
He is active in the affairs of Chartered Accountants Ireland and served as the Chairman on the Chartered Accountants Ireland Leinster Society for 2012/2013. And, was a member of the Education, Training and Life Long Learning committee of Chartered Accountants Ireland from 2009 to 2012 as well as chairman of the ACA Professionals Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland for 2008/2009 and has served on the Members Services Committee. He is currently a Director of Accounting Technicians Ireland. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants In Ireland, he is also a Fellow of the Institute of Accounting Technicians in Ireland and a member of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland.
Johnny is Treasurer of the Forum and represents the Forum on the Audit Committee of the Dublin City Council.
Alan Gallagher
Alan’s current role is Director of Event Operations at The CCD which he has held since June 2017 and
he is responsible for driving the venues event strategy. Previously he spent over 10 years as part of
the Senior Executive Team in Croke Park Stadium where he managed the day to day running of the
third largest sporting venue in Europe.
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Having unique large scale event experience, Alan acted as
Event Controller for the Pope’s visit to Knock in 2018. Sustainability is a key driver for Alan where he looks to embed practical applications into day to day
operations and company strategy and this journey has allowed organisations he has worked for to
secure many ISO accreditations and national and international industry awards. Holding a first-class
honours in both a Bachelor of Engineering (NUIG) and a Master of Business Studies (Smurfit Business
School), Alan has also served 15 years as a commissioned officer in the Defence Forces and reached
the rank of Captain. Outside of work and family live, Alan likes to keep fit and he completed his first
140.6 IRONMAN event in Austria in 2021.
Robert Colleran
Rob is a Director of Development Land in CBRE and handles a large portfolio of development land sales in Dublin and throughout Ireland.
Rob has 17 years’ experience as a commercial property agent in Ireland and the greater Dublin area, specialising in development land sales & consultancy, office & retail agency.
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Rob has been involved with several Dublin Docklands properties including Barrow Street (Google), the Grand Canal Docks (Waterways Ireland), Grand Canal House, Portview House, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay (State Street Bank), North Wall Quay (Former Anglo Irish Building – Project Wave site), Macken House on Mayor Street and Castleforbes Road and the South Bank site in Ringsend.
Rob has worked directly for Liam Carroll, one of the largest landlord’s and developers in Ireland and was involved in site acquisition in the Dublin Docklands and managed the lettings process of a very large portfolio of commercial properties. This included 54 acres of land in the Dublin Docklands, plus managing and assisting a team of over 10 different estate agents throughout the commercial lettings process.
Rob also has a proven track record in development land sales and commercial lettings
Martin Murnaghan
Martin Murnaghan is the Bank Manager for AIB in the Docklands, covering both the IFSC and Grand Canal Dock. Martin started in this role in October 2023 and has been a member of the Docklands Business Forum Steering Committee since then. Martin has over eight years working in Financial Services.
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He is an experienced retail banker specialising in personal and business needs. Prior to taking on this role, Martin was a mortgage advisor and client relationship manager.
Martin is tasked with implementing the vision of a unified approach to the unique requirements and demands that this growing community and workforce on both sides of the Docklands command.
Catherine McGovern
Catherine McGovern is the Director of Sales & Marketing at Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, situated in the heart of Dublin’s Docklands.
She has over 25 years’ experience within the hospitality industry, having held sales positions in companies including Jurys Doyle Hotel Group, Tinakilly House Hotel, Ryanair and CityJet.
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Catherine is a fellow of the Sales Institute of Ireland.
Stephen Healy
Stephen is the Bank Manager in BOI Grand Canal. He has spent 19 years working in Financial Services, the last seven based in Docklands. He holds the QFA along with a Diploma in SME Credit. He is an experienced banker specialising in personal and business needs.
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“I am extremely passionate about growing and sustaining relationships with my personal and business customers. I am a dedicated relationship manager, allowing my customers to thrive is something I take great pride in. Being a point of contact at the very beginning and throughout all stages of their business and personal growth is something I am very passionate about.”
Susan Rossney
Susan Rossney is Sustainability Advocacy Manager with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland. A Sustainability Leader and Project Manager with 20+ years’ experience building networks and delivering projects. Susan is a member of the Advisory Steering Group of the UN Global Compact Network in Ireland
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and chairs the Net Zero Taskforce of the Global Accounting Alliance. She is also a taskforce member and former Chair of the Chartered Accountants Worldwide Sustainability Taskforce and a member of Green Pearse Street.
Author of the weekly Sustainability/ESG Newsletter for Chartered Accountants Ireland, Sustainability for Accountants, and Climate Essentials for Accountants and (coauthor) of Sustainability for Small Businesses, Susan leads many sustainability initiatives for Chartered Accountants Ireland and regularly writes and speaks on sustainability events on behalf of the Institute.
A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and with post-graduate qualifications from IoB, Smurfit Business School, Oxford Brooks University, Dublin Institute of Technology, and the Institute of Project Management Ireland, Susan has recently completed a MsC in Climate, Media and Society in DCU.
Owen Reilly
Owen Reilly is a career estate agent who started his own agency in 2008 at Grand Canal Dock in the heart of the Dublin Docklands. Owen has developed a lot of expertise in the Dublin residential property.