Niamh O’Donoghue served as Secretary-General of the Department of Social Protection from July 2010 to July 2017. 

She joined the civil service in 1979 and served in a number of Departments and offices including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners (now the Public Appointments Service) and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.

She has a primary degree in Public Administration from the IPA, and also holds an MA (Industrial Relations) from the University of Keele and an MSc (Mgmt) from TCD.

She has a keen interest in People Management, HR/IR and Organisation Change.

She previously acted as Chairman and Board member of the board of the IPA, Director of Common Purpose (Ireland) Ltd, and Board member at the Public Appointments Service.