Aileen is a sustainability, risk and raw materials professional with a multidisciplinary background spanning geoscience, sustainability, social value and enterprise risk management. She specialises in helping organisations navigate complex sustainability and social risks linked to the energy transition, responsible resource development and stakeholder expectations.
Her work focuses on people-centred approaches to sustainability, including stakeholder engagement, inclusion, communication and responsible business practice. Aileen holds professional risk management credentials through the Institute of Risk Management and is an experienced speaker, trainer and facilitator, with a strong focus on making sustainability and risk concepts practical and relevant to real-world organisational challenges.
Mining With Purpose: Rethinking Responsibility Across Ireland’s Mining Sector
Mining is essential to the energy transition, but responsible mining is about more than meeting regulatory requirements. Across the island of Ireland, historical mining legacies, changing regulation, community trust, and renewed interest in mineral development raise questions about what responsible mining should look like today. This presentation explores these questions through a review of policy, research, grey literature, and historical and contemporary mining examples. It brings together four aspects of responsibility that are often considered separately: trust, legacy, governance, and stewardship. Together, they provide a way to think about responsibility across the mining lifecycle, from exploration and engagement through to closure and beyond. The Irish context highlights how learning from the past, involving communities early, strengthening governance, and planning for long-term outcomes can shape a more socially sustainable and place-based approach to mining. The presentation will consider what this means for mining companies and other stakeholders as mineral demand grows.
