Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe (pictured above by RollingNews) has nominated a solicitor to the board of Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI). 

Grainne Hennessy is a senior solicitor at Arthur Cox with over 27 years’ experience advising on the funding of real estate investments, including some of the largest construction finance projects in the country.

Managerial committee

She was a member of the management committee of Arthur Cox for six years.

She is joined as a non-executive director on the board by Claire Solon and Ken Slattery.

Marie Collins has been appointed as the chair after a Public Appointments Service-managed process.

HBFI was officially launched in January for the purpose of funding the construction of new homes in Ireland.

It is a commercial entity, providing finance at market rates for commercially viable residential developments.

Section 8 of the Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018 provides for between three and seven directors.

The Minister for Finance appointed three board members on the formation of HBFI. These are:

• Des Carville – Head of shareholding and financial advisory division in the Department of Finance,
• Andrew Flanagan – chief legal officer of the NTMA,
• Michael Broderick – HBFI Project Lead.

Marie Collins is an experienced non-executive director in both the private and public sectors and former of the ESB Pension Fund.

Property funds

Claire Solon is Head of Property at Aviva and is responsible for managing in excess of €600m of property funds in Ireland and UK.

A fellow of the Institute of Bankers and a certified bank director, Ken Slattery has extensive board room experience in the financial services sector. He currently serves as a non-executive director for Permanent TSB.