Appointments to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland:

Following a Public Jobs campaign, The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, has appointed the following members to the Board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) with effect from 20 February 2025 until 19 February 2028.

Martin Blake

Martin Blake is a former Chief Veterinary Officer of Ireland where he had policy and operational leadership responsibilities in the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, across the One Health One Welfare area - including animal health, animal welfare, food safety, veterinary public health and related matters. Martin has direct experience in the areas of policy formulation, regulation, operational management, organisational change, stakeholder engagement, international engagement and negotiation, audit, risk management and contingency planning/crisis response. He served as Ireland’s delegate to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) from December 2011 to January 2025. He has served on several boards including the Veterinary Council of Ireland, the Irish Equine Centre, the WOAH Platform for Animal Welfare for Europe and the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD), which he chaired from 2019 to 2022. Martin is a graduate of University College Dublin with a primary degree in veterinary medicine and a master’s degree in business administration.

Carol Lynch

Carol Lynch is a highly experienced risk professional and qualified accountant with an extensive career, at senior management level, in the Financial Services industry in Ireland and the UK. Her core technical expertise is in financial risk management, financial regulation and corporate governance. Carol’s depth of experience and know-how were finely honed during the highly volatile, fast changing and demanding environment, caused by the 2008 Financial crisis. She developed and implemented effective risk governance, analytical and reporting architecture and capability, building business resilience during this period. Carol has engaged extensively with major business stakeholders, including EU and national financial regulators, potential investors and she is a trusted advisor to boards and audit committees on financial and regulatory matters. Carol’s technical expertise is underpinned by a wealth of leadership and people management experience. She is an ardent believer in the importance of transparency and regular, effective, communications. Carol is an adept chair and board member and has served on a number of audit, risk and capital investment committees. In these roles, her philosophy is to share insights, provide guidance, act collaboratively while maintaining independence of mind, challenge constructively and offer support to resolve problems.

Carol is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, has an MSc. in Work and Organisational Behaviour and is qualified to lead and advise on organisational culture and ethical change management. She is presently engaged in ethical research on individual, organisational and environmental interconnectedness.