The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan yesterday appointed Alan Ahearne as a member of the Central Bank Commission for a period of four years.

The Central Bank Commission consists of four ex-officio members and between six and eight members appointed by the Minister for Finance. This is the sixth appointment the Minister for Finance has made to the Commission since the commencement of the Central Bank Reform Act 2010 on October 1 last year. The ex-officio members are Professor Patrick Honohan (Governor); Matthew Elderfield (Head of Financial Regulation); Tony Grimes (Head of Central Banking) and Kevin Cardiff (Secretary General of the Department of Finance) and other appointed members are Professor John Fitzgerald; Max Watson; Michael Soden; Des Geraghty and Professor Blanaid Clarke

Dr. Alan Ahearne was appointed as Special Advisor to the Minister for Finance in March 2009.  In this role, he advised the Minister on economic, budgetary and financial policy in responding to the economic and financial crisis. Among other things, he played an advisory role in relation to the three Budgets during this period, the National Recovery Plan, the creation of the National Asset Management Agency and other measures to address the financial crisis.

Dr. Ahearne received a B.B.S. from the University of Limerick in 1989, an M.Econ.Sc. from University College Dublin in 1991 and an M.Sc. (1995) and a Ph.D. (1998), both in economics, from Carnegie Mellon University. He has taught economics at at Carnegie Mellon University, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, and the University of Limerick. He began his professional career with Coopers & Lybrand and also worked for Bank of Ireland Group Treasury.