Michael Scanlan, former Secretary General, Department of Health and Children and former senior official in the Department of Finance. He led the Department of Health and Children when the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs was under its remit, during which time the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme was established. He has previously acted as Chair of the Board of Tallaght Hospital.

Professor Edward Melhuish is a professor of Human Development at the University of Oxford. He is a highly renowned international research expert on Early Learning and Care, human development and social policy. His work uses theoretically driven research to address applied issues and policy questions to produce improvements in development and well-being. He has led the seminal studies in this field, including the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) and the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) projects and the National Evaluation of Sure Start, and is involved in international research across Europe and the world. He has undertaken research in 12 countries, including large-scale longitudinal studies in Norway, the UK, and Australia involving family, community and pre-school influences on child development, and policy implications. He has been a director of the EU projects CARE (early childhood education & Care) and ISOTIS on childhood inequality involving 11 countries, and an experienced contributor to policy development, nationally and internationally, as an advisor to OECD, WHO, and the European Commission. In 2016 he was awarded an OBE for services to Social Science, and undertakes substantial pro bono work for charities involved with child wellbeing.

Professor Eva Lloyd, OBE, Director of the International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare and Professor of Early Childhood in the School of Education and Communities at the University of East London, and Visiting Professor at University College London’s Institute of Education. She is highly specialised in the niche field of funding of childcare provision and has published widely on childcare markets and privatisation, particularly as they affect children growing up in poverty. Eva Lloyd has worked extensively with national and international policymakers and co-authored a range of UK government commissioned policy studies and evaluations. Eva Lloyd is also a director and trustee of Acorn Childcare (https://www.acornearlyyears.org.uk/), a social enterprise running 13 nurseries across three English counties, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, as well as several out-of-school clubs, extensive forest school provision, a catering service and a training centre.

Tove Mogstad Slinde, Senior Advisor in the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research in the Department of Kindergartens and Schools. From 2012 to 2018, she has been Chair of the Network on Early Childhood Education and Care in the OECD. In 2019/2020 she was part of a Commission in France appointed by President Macron delivering a report on “the first 1,000 days of a child”.

Dr Tim Callan is an Adjunct Full Professor at the Geary Institute in UCD and works as an independent economist. He was Research Professor at the ESRI, and Area Coordinator for its research on Taxation, Welfare & Pensions. He has published widely in national and international journals on topics including income tax and welfare policy, financial incentives to work, labour supply, and income distribution; he has also contributed to a number of edited volumes on poverty and inequality and to several international comparative projects. He is an experienced contributor to the development of policy and was a member of the Expert Working Group on Tax and Welfare and the Commission on the Family and has contributed written and oral evidence to government and parliamentary committees.

Dr Rory O’Donnell, Adjunct Full Professor at the Geary Institute in UCD and former Director of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), an organisation which advises the Taoiseach (prime minister) on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable economic, social and environmental development in Ireland.

Dr Anne-Marie Brooks was appointed Assistant Secretary General of the Department of Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth in 2021. Anne-Marie is responsible for operational, policy and legislative developments relating to quality, affordable, accessible, sustainable, and inclusive early learning and care and school-age childcare. She also responsible for First 5, the ten-year, whole-of-government strategy for babies, young children and their families. Prior to being appointed as Assistant Secretary General, Anne-Marie was the Principal Officer of the Policy, Strategy and Research Unit of the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division in the DCEDIY, and has been a member of the Expert Group from its inception. Following her promotion, she was replaced by Hazel O’Byrne, her successor as Principal Officer for the Policy, Strategy and Research Unit

Hazel O’Byrne joined the Expert Group in 2021 as the Principal Officer for the Policy, Strategy and Research Unit. She has responsibility at Principal Officer level for monitoring of the First 5 Implementation Plan 2019-2021 and reporting on progress; for progressing a range of First 5 actions, including the development of a new funding model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare; and overseeing a range of research, evaluation and data projects associated with or commissioned by the Division.

Niamh Callaghan, Principal Officer in the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform with responsibility for the DCEDIY Vote, with the goal of delivering well-managed, well-targeted, and sustainable public spending. In her role as an active member of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES), Niamh works to embed an evidence-informed approach to policy making in the civil service. She has previously managed budget allocations in the areas of Health and Social Protection.

Joanne Tobin joined the Expert Group in 2021 as the Principal Officer leading on Early Years Education Policy in the Department of Education. She has previously worked in the areas of Higher Education Policy and Skills Planning and Enterprise Engagement in the Department of Education and Skills and the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.