Mary Harney held a number of different Ministerial positions in the Irish Government for 18 years, including Environmental Protection, Industry, Trade, Research & Innovation and Health. She was Deputy Prime Minister for 10 years. She retired from politics in 2011 and now acts as a consultant and is involved in several charitable organisations.
She is an independent director of several companies, including Biocon Ltd. (India), Leaseplan Insurance (Dutch, but based in Dublin) and Diona Technology (Ireland), and is chair of the Pharmed Group (Ireland) and of Videodoc (UK/Ireland). Until her appointment as Chancellor of the University of Limerick she was Chair of Amber (Advanced Materials and Bio-engineering Research Centre) in Trinity College Dublin. She also chairs a European-wide initiative on Sustainable Healthcare and is a board member of the Irish Hospice Foundation and of the European Board of Vital Voices.
