Minister Browne reappoints Keara Robins to Gas Networks Ireland board until 2030

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, T.D., has reappointed Keara Robins as a director of the Gas Networks Ireland board for the period running from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030. The decision was taken in consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation and is announced in Iris Oifigiúil No. 91 of 13 November 2026, under the heading “Appointment to the Board of Gas Networks Ireland” (notice G-3). The appointment gives the director a four-year mandate beginning in the first days of the new year.

A four-year term from January 2027

The notice sets out the terms of the reappointment in a single, brief entry carried in the appointments pages of the official gazette:

• Appointee: Ms Keara Robins, reappointed as a Director of the Gas Networks Ireland Board.
• Decision-maker: the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, T.D.
• Consultation: the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
• Term: 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030, a period of four years.
• Publication: Iris Oifigiúil, Number 91, Friday, 13 November 2026, under the departmental heading Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The notice does not state the director’s remuneration or any other conditions attaching to the post; it records only the reappointment, the identity of the Minister making it and the four-year period it covers.

Ministerial power under section 7A

According to the published text, the Minister acted “in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 7A of the Gas Regulation Act 2013 (as amended)”. That provision is the legal basis cited in the gazette for the appointment of directors to the board, and the notice records that the decision was taken jointly, through consultation, with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation. The entry appears immediately beneath the heading “Appointment to the Board of Gas Networks Ireland”, inside the section of the issue devoted to departmental and statutory notices.

Other appointments in the same issue

The same edition of the gazette carries further moves affecting State bodies. Under a separate heading, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, T.D., re-appointed Donald Scully, of the ICMSA, as an ordinary member of Teagasc – The Agriculture and Food Development Authority for a five-year term commencing on 6 January 2027. The issue also publishes statutory instruments including S.I. No. 566 of 2026, the Social Welfare (Cost of Disability Payment) Regulations 2026, and S.I. No. 567 of 2026, the European Union (Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation) Regulations 2026, the latter coming into effect on 1 January 2027.

The reappointment secures continuity on the board of the State’s gas network operator just as the new year brings a fresh four-year mandate into force. Because the term begins on 1 January 2027, the same date on which other energy-related measures in the same issue take effect, the decision places the director in post for the full span of the governance and regulatory cycle now opening, and its publication in the official gazette gives the appointment formal public record.

Source: Iris Oifigiúil, Number 91, 13 November 2026, section I, notice “Appointment to the Board of Gas Networks Ireland” (official reference: G-3).