Keynote Arena

Ossian Smyth is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as a Minister of State since July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since 2020. Smyth was elected to Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council for the Dún Laoghaire local electoral area at the 2014 local election. He served as Cathaoirleach of the County Council from 2018 to 2019. He was re-elected to the council at the 2019 local election, and at the general election in February 2020, he was elected as a TD for Dún Laoghaire. Following the formation of a new government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Smyth was appointed as a Minister of State on 1 July 2020. He was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment and Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy.

Paul Quinn is the Chief Procurement Officer with the Office ofi Government Procurement (OGP). The OGP is an office of the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform. Paul joined the Civil Service in 2013 as Government’s first Chief Procurement Officer overseeing the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), which leads procurement transformation across the public sector. The Irish Government spends approx. €17 billion per annum through public procurement. The OGP is the national authority for public procurement in Ireland providing the policy framework, procurement systems, and supports for stakeholders. It is also a Central Purchasing Body providing a broad range of buying solutions to public service bodies for commonly used goods and services. Paul previously worked in the telecommunications industry, holding senior management roles in shared services, engineering, ICT and change management.

John Swords is the National Director of Procurement in the Health Service Executive (HSE). The HSE provides all of Ireland's public health services in hospitals and communities across the country and is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the State. In this capacity, John leads procurement with a firm focus to enable a better service, with improved outcomes for patients and service users in a challenging environment. John has been instrumental in progressing the strategic procurement journey across the organisation. With a keen interest on driving transformation through collaboration and innovation, John has led on developing and improving the Procurement Sourcing Plan, Compliance Improvement, development and roll out of the National Logistics Service along with supporting the National Finance Reform and Stabilisation Programmes. Cross border collaborative working in health and social care is a high priority for John and in this regard he chairs the Procurement CAWT (Cooperation And Working Together) Group, a partnership between the Health and Social Care Services in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is EU funded. As a member of the OGP (Office of Government Procurement) Reform Board, John is committed to procurement excellence and the overall public procurement reform programme. He is also a member of the GS1 Ireland Board of Directors whose standards improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains across physical and digital channels in 25 sectors.

Linda O’Hare is Assistant Director – Procurement, at Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS), in Northern Ireland (NI). PaLS is the sole provider of professional procurement and logistics services to all Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations in NI. BSO PaLS manages £1.2bn of expenditure per annum, has circa 420 staff, with procurement offices and warehouses situated across NI. BSO PaLS manages procurements and contracts across all categories of goods and services - clinical, non-clinical, social care and ICT. Linda has 22 years Public Procurement experience, in the Health Services in both Ireland and NI. Prior to this she headed up the purchasing department in the 5-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin, and in her early career held a number of management roles in the hospitality industry. In her spare time, Linda takes long walks in the countryside, spends time with family and friends and likes to travel extensively.

Philip Gurnett is a highly accomplished leader, with extensive experience as a senior manager in the public and private sectors. As the EPS Director and Head of Sourcing Education, he has been instrumental in revolutionising procurement within higher education. Under his leadership, the Education Procurement Service (EPS) has evolved into a national procurement consortium, representing all Higher Education Institutions and serving as a sector-sourcing hub under the National Procurement model. Philip's expertise lies in developing and implementing change management strategies for the public sector, with a focus on enhancing procurement compliance through meticulous planning, strong partner engagement, and targeted communications. A firm believer in achievement through partnership, consensus, and shared responsibility, he has cultivated a robust team ethic within the EPS. As a representative of Education on the Office of Government Procurement executive and board, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the national procurement model to meet the evolving needs of the education sector.

Ciarán is a Chartered Engineer with over 25 years’ experience in the project management of civil engineering and rail projects. He has worked in a variety of roles in civil engineering, heavy rail and light rail environments and was TII’s Project Manager for the Luas Cross City scheme. Ciarán re-joined Iarnród Éireann in 2020 and since then has headed up their Network Enhancements department Network Enhancements is responsible for delivery of a wide range of building, civil engineering and technology projects under Iarnród Éireann’s ‘Decade of Delivery’.