Sinkholes Tellus Border Earthquake - Geological Survey of Ireland

Director’s Discourse
Koen Verbruggen
Geology Matters: Summer 2013
I am delighted to be able to pen my
first “discourse” since becoming
Director in January of this year.
For those who don’t know me I
can give a little bit of background.
The answer to the first question is I
am Irish, my father is from Antwerp
in Belgium, which explains the
name, but I was born and reared
in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, where I
now live. I am a Geology graduate
and have an MSc in Petroleum
Geology, both from UCD. I spent
15 years in the resource industry,
briefly in oil & gas exploration and
the majority of the time working in
mineral exploration, mostly for Irish
junior companies. This resulted in
me living and working overseas
for several years, including in
Canada, Australia, Mexico, Cuba
and various parts of Africa. In
2000 I joined GSI, working first in
Minerals, thereafter in Information
Management, and then in the
Marine programme, where I comanaged
the flagship INFOMAR
Project. More recently I have
been involved in all aspects of
GSI management, working closely
with our parent Department,
Communications, Energy and
Natural Resources, and in the role
of Acting Director since April 2012.
Now, in 2013, GSI faces a number
of challenges, however these
also represent opportunities for
the organisation. Since 2007
we have had a reasonably well
funded programme of projects,
when Geoscience was included
for the first time in the National
Strategy for Science, Technology
and Innovation under the National
Development Plan. These
projects include INFOMAR,
the Geoscience Initiatives
multi-annual projects including
Groundwater, Aggregates,
Koen Verbruggen Director Geological Survey of Ireland
Landslides and Urban Geology
and our Griffiths Research Awards.
The majority of these projects will
complete this year, happily, as
often reported in this newsletter,
they all look to have met or
exceeded their targets, while the
research programme will largely
complete in 2014. Therefore we
are currently facing a busy period
of planning and stakeholder
engagement to develop new and
follow on projects and to secure
financing and engagement for the
next phase of our programme. In
addition we are currently carrying
out a scheduled external review of
our INFOMAR Programme, as it
looks to complete its Phase 1 work
by 2016. The two large InterReg
funded Projects we are partner in,
Tellus Border and INIS HYDRO,
will both also complete in 2013,
and work is underway to look at
the potential to build on these well
received projects both onshore
and offshore.
In addition to the pressures
on government spending and
budgets, in GSI we have to deal
with the recent large number of
retirements and consequent loss
of expertise, where 20% of our staff
have retired in the last few years.
However, over the duration of the
current programmes, considerable
upskilling of staff has taken place,
we have developed strong skills
in areas such as IT/GIS and
Project Management which have
helped us maintain a high level of
productivity, and equally we have
developed stronger relations with
key stakeholders, agencies and
external organisations. Thus I am
confident that we will continue to
have lots to report in upcoming
editions of Geology Matters! As
always we welcome our readers
feedback, and realise we can only
achieve a higher profile for Irish
Geoscience by working together.
Ní neart go chur le chéile (There
is no strength without unity).
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