New CEO appointed to Irish Rural Link
Irish Rural Link has appointed a new chief executive officer (CEO).
Westmeath native Briain Smyth, an Irish entrepreneur and rural development leader with 30 years of experience spanning media, energy, agri-business, and sustainability, has been appointed to the role.
He takes up the role of CEO of Irish Rural Link tomorrow, Wednesday April 1.
New CEO
Briain cut his teeth in the Irish media industry during the 1990s and early 2000s, gaining broad experience across print media, magazines, digital media, media events, and press monitoring for government and public sector clients.
He then moved into renewable energy development, working across biomass, bioenergy and agricultural feedstocks from the mid-2000s onwards.
He co-founded Biotricity, developing large-scale combined heat and power projects using agricultural biomass, both in Ireland and in France.
Among his most significant contributions during this period was the formulation in 2018 of an early vision for the redevelopment of the former ESB peat-fired power station at Rhode, Co. Offaly, as a green energy hub.
This initial concept that has since evolved into a broader national policy objective for the just transition of former peat communities.
Coming from a farming and rural community in Co. Westmeath, Irish Rural Link said Briain brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing rural Ireland, as well as the commercial and strategic experience to pursue ambitious solutions.
He lives in Moate with his spouse.
Smith said: “It is a genuine honour to take up the leadership of Irish Rural Link at what is a pivotal moment for rural Ireland.
"Rural communities are not peripheral to this country’s future — they are central to it.
"The talent, the land, the energy resources, and the community spirit that exist outside our cities represent one of Ireland’s greatest untapped strengths."
"... I come to this role with both a deep personal connection to rural Ireland and a career built on turning ambition into reality — often in the face of policy environments that were slow to catch up with what communities and people could see clearly," he added.
Smith also paid tribute to outgoing CEO Séamus Boland, stating that his leadership of Irish Rural Link over more than two decades has built the organisation into the authoritative national voice for rural communities.
"Séamus leaves an extraordinary legacy; one I inherit with great respect and no small sense of responsibility," Smith said.
"His election in October 2025 as the 35th president of the European Economic and Social Committee is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the respect he has earned across European civil society.
"That rural Ireland now has one of its own leading European civil society at the highest level is both a tribute to Séamus personally and a powerful signal of what organised, determined advocacy can achieve."
The incoming CEO said that too many rural communities continue to lose the services and the people that sustain them.
He explained that depopulation and the hollowing out of local services remain among the most acute and underacknowledged challenges facing rural Ireland today.
Irish Rural Link
Founded in 1991, Irish Rural Link (IRL) is Ireland’s national network for rural community development and advocacy.
It directly represents over 600 community groups with a combined membership of 25,000 people.
IRL campaigns on issues including rural transport, digital inclusion, housing, healthcare access, community energy, and EU rural policy.
