There's to be a new boss for environmental protection matters in the Irish Republic.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, T.D., today announced that the Government has decided to appoint Laura Burke as the new Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She succeeds Dr. Mary Kelly, who took up a new role as Chairperson of An Bord Pleanála in August 2011.

Laura Burke has been a Director of the EPA since 2004, initially serving as the Agency’s Director of Communications and Corporate Services and more recently as Director of the Office of Climate, Licensing, Research and Resource Use. Prior to joining the EPA, she worked in the private sector.

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She is a graduate chemical engineer of University College Dublin and holds an MSc from Trinity College, Dublin.

Welcoming the appointment, Minister Hogan said: "The Environmental Protection Agency plays a pivotal role in the protection of our environment and in improving the quality of life of Irish citizens.

"The Director General of the Agency is therefore a crucial post, not just in terms of leading the Agency itself but also in terms of the wider sphere of environmental governance and sustainable development in Ireland.

"I am delighted that we have someone of the calibre of Laura Burke to fill the position of EPA Director General for the next seven years."

(BMcC)