Ossian is the Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire. He was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment, in July 2020. He was given responsibility for Communications, Circular Economy, and Cyber Security at the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, in May 2021.

Ossian served as a County Councillor on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council from 2014 to 2020. He served as Cathaoirleach of that Council between 2018 and 2019.During his time on the Council, he introduced a new levy on vacant shops; new insulation and ventilation rules for future planning developments; banned the use of chemical weedkiller; and introduced an electric vehicle policy for council vehicles.

Prior to his election as TD he worked as a Technical Project Manager in Saint Vincent’s Hospital.

 

Ossian was born in Dún Laoghaire and lives there with his family. 

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Green Wins for Minister Ossian Smyth

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•  Recovered all patient data from the HSE cyberattack without paying a ransom

•  Accelerated the fibre broadband rollout so that it is now available to 70k rural homes

•   Legislated for 20c disposable cup levy to start this year

•  Legislated for bottle and can deposit return scheme rolling out this year and next

•   Issued 7 million digital Covid certificates that allowed reopening of international travel

•  Deployed a Covid cert scanner that allowed 20k hospitality staff to return to work

• Converted 90% of procurement frameworks to green procurement

•  Legislated for Georgia-compatible cctv to prosecute people for fly tipping

•  Legislated for an incineration levy

•  Created a circular economy fund to help transition to circular economy using levies from incineration, landfill and single use products

• Legislated to make businesses segregate waste

•  Legislated to streamline the EPA construction waste recycling permit system

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