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NMBI Board Election 2026: Meet the Candidates

An election will be held to elect three registrants to the Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI).
Nominations have been received in the following categories:
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A registered nurse from the practice of Intellectual Disability Nursing
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Karina O'Sullivan
Karina is currently employed in the HSE as an officer within the Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Unit for Dublin South, Kildare, and West Wicklow. In her position, she contributes at both regional and national levels to support the advancement of Intellectual Disability nursing and the broader nursing and midwifery workforce.
With over 23 years of clinical, leadership, and regulatory experience in intellectual disability services, Karina aims to bring her knowledge, skills and perspective to contribute effectively to Board governance and decision making.
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Marian Spelman
Marian is a CNM1 with the Brothers of Charity Services/Corlann in Galway, where she manages Day Services for people with Intellectual Disabilities. She is responsible for the management and treatment of service users, planning and delivering evidence-based care, providing clinical and professional leadership, and supporting staff development.
Marian is an active representative for ID nurses and aims to bring her experience and insight to represent the RNID perspective, if elected to the Board of NMBI.
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A registered midwife from the practice of Midwifery
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Caroline Earley
Caroline is a Registered Advanced Midwife Practitioner at Regional Hospital Mullingar. She has over 20 years of clinical, regulatory, and leadership experience in the healthcare sector. She provides advanced clinical leadership within maternity services while contributing to quality improvement, governance and evidence-based practice.
If elected to the NMBI Board, Caroline aims to bring her perspective of an active frontline practitioner who understands how regulatory standards impact daily care.
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Gráinne Milne
Gráinne is currently Director of Midwifery with responsibility for maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services in Louth Hospitals. She is also responsible for paediatric in-patient services, outreach antenatal services, postnatal hubs and the HSE Community Homebirth Service in this area.
If elected to the NMBI Board, Gráinne aims to ensure women are at the heart of maternity and midwifery services.
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A registered nurse from the practice of the Care of Older Persons
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Elaine Dunne
Elaine is currently working as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) in older persons’ care at Connolly Hospital Dublin. She provides ANP-led clinics in the day hospital for outpatients, providing specialist reviews of older inpatients under the care of medical consultants and managing the transfer of inpatients to our specialist geriatric wards and rehabilitation units.
Elaine is passionate about nursing as a profession and about representing older persons’ care at a national level, and believes if elected, she can add value to the Board through her knowledge, experience and expertise.
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Melba Mary Vilson
Melba is Assistant Director of Nursing in Killarney Community Hospital, HSE Southwest.and has almost 20 years’ experience in older person services. Her professional experience includes clinical governance, quality and patient safety, workforce planning, infection prevention and control, risk management, regulatory compliance and multidisciplinary leadership.
If elected to the NMBI Board, Melba aims to contribute constructively to NMBI’s strategic direction and to a regulatory approach that is fair, inclusive, evidence-informed and responsive to the changing needs of the profession and the people it serves.
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Further details about each of the candidates is available on the NMBI Election Portal.
Voting Information
The electronic ballot will open at 9am on Monday, 21 September 2026 and close at 12 noon on Thursday, 1 October 2026.
Election and e-voting information will be issued on or before Monday, 21 September 2026 to every nurse and midwife registered with NMBI as at 1pm on Monday, 24 August 2026.
We encourage all eligible registrants to review the candidate information and participate in the election.
Queries
Any queries regarding the election should be directed to election@nmbi.ie.
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