Skip to main content

Policy Lab

An innovative way of developing policy

It broadens the range of voices who are heard in policy-making Specifically, it ensures that those with direct experience as citizens or in delivering service are at the heart of the solutions evolved.

It is a robust and challenging process that puts a premium on genuine innovation in thinking.

It is open to members but equally important to those in the community with no association with the party who want to see solutions to deep-seated problems in our country.

Board

Marion Coy

Chairperson

Marion Coy lives in Co Galway. She now works on a range of projects in higher education and political policy and chairs the Policy Lab.

She is a former President of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, one of the constituent colleges of the new Atlantic Technological University. She was a member of the Hunt Review that originally recommended the establishment of the Technological University System. She is also involved in the evaluation of higher education quality under the auspices of ENQA in Europe.

She is a member of the Executive Council of Fine Gael and carried out a review of the party’s performance in the 2016 election at the request of the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. She chairs the Collins Institute which, for a number of years, developed policy in association with, but independent of, Fine Gael. She also has contributed to political policy discourse in a number of European countries and has represented the Collins Institute at the Martens Centre, the policy think-tank of the EPP.

Richard Bruton

Vice-Chairperson

First elected to Dáil Eireann in 1982, Richard is the Chairperson of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. He previously served as Minister Communications, Climate Action, and Environment, Minister Education & Skills and Minister Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation.

Cllr. Daniel Butler

Councillor in Limerick City, with particular experience in facilitation, through his work with youth and drugs.

Denise Cronin

Originally from Mallow, Denise is former Constituency Chairperson in Dublin West; she is a qualified accountant, and also completed her Masters in Public Policy. She works for a mental health charity.