Dr. John Tierney is the Dublin City Manager. He was appointed to this position on 7th of September 2006.  He holds a BA and an MA in Public Management from the Institute of Public Administration and a Doctorate in Governance from Queens University Belfast. He has extensive experience in the Local Authority Sector, including previous positions as Manager in Galway City and Fingal.

The Role of Dublin City Manager 

As Chief Executive of Dublin City Council, John is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the council. He also has responsibility for the implementation of council decisions. John works with your elected representatives (councillors) and council staff to implement Dublin City Council's vision for a creative and sustainable city.

The City Manager Represents Dublin City Council on Many Organisations

As City Manager, John also contributes to the work of a number of other groups/organisations.  He is Chairman of the Steering Group, which monitors the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area. He is also Chairman of the Institute of Public Administration and the Creative Dublin Alliance. He is a Director of Dublin Tourism and the Digital Hub Development Agency and an ex-officio member of the Council of Dublin Chamber of Commerce.  He is on the Governance Board of the Long Room Hub in Trinity College Dublin, the Governing Authority of Dublin City University and the Board of the IT Innovation Competence Centre in NUIM. He is a member of the National Directorate on Fire and Emergency Management and the National Transport Authority. John receives no remuneration for participation on any of these bodies.

Current Focus

At present John, together with the Councillors and staff, is striving to ensure the ongoing financial stability of the Council in these difficult financial times. Despite having much less resources (both human and financial), the Council has continued to maintain a balanced budget while keeping open all municipal facilities within the city and maintaining services to the best extent possible. The staff deserve special credit for their flexibility in enabling this to happen. Ensuring that finances are in order and services maintained is obviously very important but so too is the focus on regional economic initiatives (in association with the other Dublin local authorities) centred on innovation and sustainability. These include Innovation Dublin, Smart-Cities collaborations, Dublinked, Sustainability Reporting, and The Green Way – Dublin’s Cleantech Cluster.  John has also established an innovation lab “The Studio” within the City Council to help the Council to be an exemplar organisation when it comes to innovation.