Fran is the South East Regional Coordinator with the River Basin Management Service (formerly Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO)) in Ireland. The River Basin Management Service is a Local Authority shared service working with local communities and relevant stakeholders to support and implement River Basin Management Plans in Ireland (EU Water Framework Directive). Since 2020, in response to requests from Local Authority planners and engineers Fran has worked closely with colleagues in Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage in the development of a national strategy for the management of surface water in the urban environment using nature-based solutions; with a focus the development of NBS and rainwater management planning guidance for planners and engineers, training within both public and private sectors, delivery of demonstrator projects, identification of nature-based solutions opportunities within large scale capital projects, NBS national conferences and a new national nature-based solutions National Development Plan fund.

Fran led the team in the development of the new €60m WaterEIP Agri-environment scheme “Farming for WaterEIP The concept” which employs nature-based solutions and applies similar principles to the delivery of physical measures to intercept phosphorous, sediment, flood mitigation and other co-benefits.

Previously Fran worked in rural development and was the lead in the development of the large-scale catchment based river restoration programmes MulkearLIFE, DuhallowLIFE (SAMOK 09), RaptorLIFE and technical lead in the Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot EIP. He also worked with Inland Fisheries Ireland for 15 years, in river restoration, research, catchment management and enforcement and was the lead author in the Inland Fisheries Ireland Guidelines for PLANNING FOR WATERCOURSES IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT.