Brigadier General Rossa Mulcahy is a professional communications officer with over 35 years’ experience in a variety of roles across the Defence Forces as well as deployments with the United Nations and NATO.
Rossa took up his appointment as Assistant Chief of Staff in Oct 2021 and has responsibility for a range of organisational level issues including; Organisation Transformation, Capability Development, Innovation, Risk Management, Corporate Governance, and Industrial Relations.
Brigadier General Mulcahy has previously served as Director of Strategic Planning Branch from Feb 2020, where he was responsible for Strategy Development, Defence Policy Programme Implementation, Defence Forces’ Annual Plans, and International Security and Defence Policy coordination. From 2019 he was the Director of Communications and Information Services, with cyber being one of his areas of responsibility. Brigadier General Mulcahy has served in all of the CIS Units within the Army; he has held appointments in the Joint Command and Staff School and the Defence Forces’ Management Information Framework Section as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Rossa’s educational qualifications include a B. COMM from NUIG, a Higher Diploma in Information Technology from NUIM, a B.Sc. in Management Information Systems from UCD, an MA in Leadership Management and Defence Studies from NUIM and most recently a Professional Diploma in Strategy Development and Innovation from the Smurfit Business School, UCD. He is a graduate of the Defence Forces’ Senior Command & Staff Course (2008) and the US Army Command and General Staff College (2011).
His overseas experience includes:
- Three (3) deployments to Lebanon with UNIFIL
- Two (2) years on deployment to Syria and Lebanon with UNTSO
- Deployment as Irish National Senior and Deputy KLE Branch at NATO’s Resolute Support mission, in Kabul, Afghanistan
Rossa is married to Lorna and they have two daughters, Caoimhe and Laoise, both of whom are in 3rd Level education.