Cróna Clohishey
Director of Public Affairs, Chartered Accountants Ireland
Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Cróna Clohisey has redirected her career from financial and tax consulting to work in advocacy and public policy.
I qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser in 2009. My career took me through roles in KPMG, Grant Thornton and Revenue before I made the move to Sydney and took a position with Accounting for Good, a firm that supports nonprofit organisations with financial management expertise, so they can focus on their wider mission.
Public policy
Seeing the broad impact that my qualifications could have, I returned to Ireland to work in public policy. I now lead the tax and public policy team at Chartered Accountants Ireland representing over 39,000 members working across all sectors of the economy.
Our team elevates members’ voices
through thought leadership, media
engagement and lobbying.
Supporting working parents
In recent years, the team has expanded the scope of our advocacy efforts beyond traditional tax and technical matters to include critical issues such as housing and childcare. In 2024, in response to member discussions, we continued to amplify their voices on childcare affordability and accessibility challenges.
With a 43% female membership base, the ‘motherhood penalty’ — a term used to refer to the loss in lifetime earnings experienced by women raising children, mainly due to underemployment and slower career progression — is of particular concern. According to the OECD, the motherhood penalty accounts for 60% of the gender pay gap across 25 European countries, a trend echoed by our own members’ experiences. Many members in response to our research confirmed they had either reduced their working hours or requested to work flexible hours because of childcare pressures.
Amplifying members’ voices
Our team elevates members’ voices through thought leadership, media engagement and lobbying. As a working mother myself, I know firsthand the challenges many parents face when balancing career and family. Addressing barriers like childcare availability and cost ensures talented professionals, especially women, are not forced to choose between careers and family. If businesses and policymakers are serious about their efforts to address gender inequity, squaring this circle is essential to retaining mothers in the workforce and closing the pay gap.
