Peter Clinch

Peter Clinch is an economist and holds the chair of Jean Monnet Professor of European Economic Integration as well as a Chair in Public Policy at University College Dublin. He is also UCD Vice-President for Innovation. His academic specialisms are sustainable economic growth and environmental economics. In 2002, he co-authored After the Celtic Tiger with Brendan Walsh and Frank Convery pointing out fragilities in the Irish economy in advance Ireland’s economic crisis. He was a critic of Irish government decisions on planning policy and decentralisation during the Irish Celtic Tiger boom describing the latter as “totally inconsistent with the National Spatial Strategy"and was said to be unenthusiastic about Ireland’s social partnership model. He was subsequently employed as Special Adviser to Brian Cowen, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland between June 2008 and January 2011 where he advised on medium-term economic policy, enterprise policy and environmental policy which included drafting the productivity growth plan “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy” published by the Government in December 2008. He was a participant in the first Irish Global Economic Forum in September 2009 and is a member of the Innovation Fund Ireland Advisory Board to the Taoiseach. He is a member of the Board of the think-tank publicpolicy.ie whose stated aim is to make it as easy as possible for interested citizens to understand the choices involved in addressing public policy issues and their implications.
His academic specialism is sustainable economic growth and he has over 100 publications.

• Appointed an honorary member of the Royal Town Planning Institute
• Government nominee to the National Economic and Social Council
• Visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego
• Joint winner in 2007 of NovaUCD's Entrepreneur Award

• Clinch, J.P., Convery, F.J. and Walsh, B.M. (2002) After the Celtic Tiger: Challenges Ahead. : O'Brien Press.
• (Refereed) Clinch, J.P., Schlegelmilch, K, Sprenger, R. and Triebswetter, U. (eds.) (2002) Greening the Budget: Budgetary Policies for Environmental Improvement. : Edward Elgar.
• Clinch, J.P. (1999) Economics of Irish Forestry: Evaluating the Returns to Economy and Society. : COFORD.
• Brophy, V., Clinch, J.P., Convery, F., Healy, J., King, C., Lewis, O. (1999) Homes for the 21st Century. : Energy Action.
• Clinch, J.P., Convery, F. J., Fitzgerald, E. and Rooney, S. (Refereed) (1999) Economic Instruments for Sustainable Development: Improving the External and Working Environments. : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.