New Business Development Manager at Geoscience Ireland

Irish Consortium to target international water, minerals and energy projects

Minister for Natural Resources, Fergus O’Dowd, has today welcomed the appointment of Sean Finlay as Business Development Manager of Geoscience Ireland. His appointment has been announced by the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) who, together with Enterprise Ireland, support the Geoscience Ireland initiative.

According to Minister O’Dowd, “Geoscience Ireland is an exciting commercial development which will position Irish geoscience expertise at the forefront of large scale international project delivery. It is a consortium of four of our most outstanding consultancy companies supplying geoscience services both at home and abroad. With the backing of my own department’s GSI and Enterprise Ireland, it is well placed to capitalise on Ireland’s excellent reputation globally in the geoscience sector.”

Geoscience Ireland will provide multi-disciplinary international consultancy in the management of water, minerals and energy resources. The four companies involved are White Young Green, Tobin Consulting Engineers, SLR Consulting and Aurum Exploration Limited. Commenting on the appointment, Koen Verbruggen, Acting Director of the GSI said; “The appointment of Sean Finlay as full time BD Manager will provide Geoscience Ireland with the necessary capacity to win overseas projects across a range of disciplines for its members, thus creating jobs for geoscientists in Ireland.”

Irish geoscientists have enjoyed considerable success in developing successful companies in the energy, mining and infrastructure development sectors and in providing design and advisory services to companies, national and multilateral agencies across the globe.   Notable successes include Tullow Oil, Cove Energy and Kenmare Resources; advisory work for the EU and the World Bank; resource evaluation, capacity building and provision of essential infrastructure for developing countries”.

Sean Finlay is a Professional Geologist and Chartered Engineer with 40 years experience in minerals exploration, mining and infrastructure development. He has worked in base and precious metals development in Ireland, Canada, Ghana, Mali and the Former Soviet Union at project and board level for several public and private companies, notably Tara Mines Ltd., Celtic Resources Holdings plc, Glencar Mining plc and Aurum Mining plc. He was until recently a director of TOBIN Consulting Engineers, a multi-disciplinary practice specializing in water services, environmental, civil and structural engineering in Ireland, Poland and the UK.

Geoscience Ireland is a consortium of four consultancy companies supplying geoscience services in Ireland and abroad. It is supported by the Geological Survey of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. The four companies are White Young Green, Tobin Consulting Engineers, SLR Consulting and Aurum Exploration Limited.