RTPI Ireland Committee Members

Niall Byrne is a Chartered Planner (MRPTI) and currently serves as the RTPI Ireland representative to the General Assembly (2020/2021). Niall is currently a Manager in the Real Estate Advisory Department of Deloitte Ireland. Niall holds an M.Sc. in Urban and Rural Design, a B.Sc. in Spatial Planning and is also a Corporate Member of the Irish Planning Institute (MIPI). Niall began his career in the public sector in Ireland before moving to the UK to work as a planning consultant in the renewable energy sector. He returned to Ireland in 2013 working primarily on the planning delivery of a European PCI (Project of Common Interest) and energy projects. Niall's most recent role as Associate Director for a leading planning consultancy firm involved managing large scale planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHD), retail and commercial projects and the preparation and co-ordination of Environmental Impact Assessment Reports.

Valerie Brennan Valerie is a Corporate Member of the RTPI Executive Committee and has been a member of the RTPI for over 15 years. Having graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a Masters in Town and Country Planning in 2004, she has gained a wide variety of professional experience across the public, private and semi-state sectors working for entities such as Westmeath County Council, DTZ Pieda Consulting and Tom Phillips and Associates. The daa, Coillte and EirGrid and amongst the semi-state agencies with whom Valerie has worked either directly or on secondment and during this time, Valerie has been an advocate for the role of a Town Planner and demonstrated the value of having planning expertise centrally involved in development strategies, particularly for strategic infrastructure projects. Valerie currently holds the position of Senior Associate with RPS Group Ltd. and is working on a variety of international infrastructure projects that concern both the marine and the terrestrial environments.

Aidan Culhane is serving his second term of office as Chair of RTPI Ireland, having also filled that role in 2019. He is currently Chief Executive of The Iveagh Trust. Prior to that he spent some years in the private sector. Aidan was also special adviser to the Minister for Housing and Planning. He served as a elected member of local government for 12 years, where he chaired the Housing and Planning Committees. He holds a Masters degree in Regional and Urban Planning from UCD, and is an associate lecturer at the Institute for Public Administration.