Danielle Conaghan

Partner | Dublin

Ten Earlsfort Terrace
Dublin 2
D02 T380
Ireland

Danielle is a partner and Head of the Environment and Planning Group, and is a founder member of the firm’s Food and Agribusiness Group.

Danielle has specialist expertise and uses her project management skills in advising on matters including the decision-making processes from pre-consultation and application stages through to oral hearing, construction and operational stages and securing and assessing the risk of providing project-financing. Danielle regularly presents at national Environmental, Planning and Energy conferences; lectures on the Law Society of Ireland Environmental Diploma Course and is co-author, with Dr. Yvonne Scannell, of the annual environmental chapter of ‘Construction Projects: Law and Practice’, published by Thomson Reuters.

Relevant Experience

Advised on the €400M Dublin Waste to Energy PPP Project on planning and environmental consents, financing, refinancing and operations
Advised on the consenting, financing, development and / or operation of over 1,500MW of wind projects in Ireland
Advised on Bord Na Móna’s successful SID application for an MBT Facility, County Kildare
Advising the State in connection with the consenting and regulation of upstream petroleum including offshore consents for the Corrib Gas Field and the CER on development and implementation of the Petroleum Safety Framework
Advising Irish Water on the Water Supply Project – Dublin & Midland Region Project, and on many other water abstraction and wastewater projects
Advised Fingal County Council and its technical advisors on the Greater Dublin Drainage Project
Advised Bord Iascaigh Mhara on its aquaculture and foreshore licence applications for the Deep Sea Project in Galway Bay
Advised Dunbia on its successful planning application for an expansion of its slaughtering facility in County Meath
Advised NDFA and DoES on planning and environmental issues affecting/delaying the procurement and delivery of 7 projects in the €500 million Second Level Schools and Third Level Education PPP Programmes
Advised on the HSE’s successful SID application for the National Forensic Mental Health Hospital

Endorsements

“Danielle Conaghan has superb attention to detail, and her pre-emptive approach is outstanding.”

The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa, 2023

“Danielle Conaghan is an excellent lead partner and displays tremendous energy and tenacity. She has a great instinct in the area of public relations and broader political angles to a case.”

The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa, 2023

“Danielle Conaghan is a good communicator, always available, good to simplify the legal context and or recent case law, excellent to work with.”

The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa, 2023

“There’s little in the planning and environmental world that Danielle Conaghan doesn’t know.”

Chambers Europe: Europe’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2023

Education & Qualifications

LL.B, 2004, Trinity College Dublin
Diploma in Applied Finance Law, 2007, Law Society
IPMA Certified Diploma in Project Management, 2011
Professional Certificate in Law on the Regulation of Food Safety (Distinction), 2013, University College Dublin
Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland, 2008
Member of Dublin Solicitors’ Bar Association (former Council Member)
Member of Irish Environmental Law Association
Member of International Project Management Association (IPMA)
Member of the Executive Committee of the Energy Law Group, an association of leading independent energy law firms in Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Council member of Wind Energy Ireland
Council member of the Marine Renewables Industry Association