Meet The Team

Emily McAteer - Vet and Owner

Emily McAteer is a vet and has practiced small animal veterinary medicine in Ireland and in the UK for the past 30 years. She qualified from UCD Veterinary faculty in 1990. She gained her experience in busy clinics in London until 1998, when she moved to rural Wales where she continued to practice with small animals. While in Wales, surrounded by an alternatively minded clientele she started to develop an interest in natural medicine and built on her already formed holistic way of practicing. She has always felt that getting the animal to heal itself is the most effective way to treat illness, creating a balance between the different organ systems and homeopathy does just that. She moved home to Dublin ten years ago and in 2013 she took over a small practice in Portmarnock where she runs Portmarnock Vet Clinic which houses Holistic Vet Dublin. She has three children, two of whom are adults. She lives in Howth with her teenaged son, two dogs, Pepper and Topper and two cats, Grey One and Betty Boop.

Elaine Nolan – Vet Nurse

Elaine is our longest serving nurse. She also helps Emily manage the practice. She knew from a young age she wanted to work with animals and after spending a summer travelling around different practices she knew she wanted to be a nurse. She qualified with a Bsc. in Veterinary Nursing in 2011. Her main interest is exotics (unusual pets like birds, lizards and snakes). She worked in Bairbre O'Malley's Exotic Vet Hospital in Bray for over 3 years after qualifying. She joined Portmarnock Vet Clinic in October 2014, loving the more relaxed working environment and friendly atmosphere. Elaine has an innate understanding of animals. She seems to speak their language and understands them on their level, often referring to owners as 'parents'. She deals with a lot of the administration, ordering and is an IT whizz. She has Sally, a Jack Russell/Dachshund cross often seen in the practice, Jack and Victor her two cats and Bobby, the African Grey Parrot.

Gemma - Vet Nurse

Gemma is a veterinary nurse. She qualified from Athlone it in 2007 with a Bsc in science/vet nursing and went straight to work in a very busy practice for almost 5 years. Whilst there she started fostering kittens and running puppy training classes. She then travelled to New Zealand where she worked in an emergency out of hour’s clinic where the medical nursing was intensive. She also worked for a charity in Auckland nursing sick, injured and neglected animals. It is a very rewarding but sad position to work in. After coming home she took some time off to have her daughters. She is delighted to be back working as a nurse and loves working in Portmarnock Vet clinic. The caring attitude is like none she seen before. She thrives on medical nursing and is amazed about how well animals respond to homeopathy as an adjunct to conventional medicine. She loves advising and talking to owners and forming bonds with their pets. She runs all the nurses’ clinics from health checks to weight watchers. She also runs puppy training classes in the evening when the clinic closes.

Roisin – Vet Nurse

Róisín is a student veterinary nurse. She did her work placement in Portmarnock Vets in 2021. She is currently in her 2nd year of studies in DKIT. She has always had an interest in caring for animals from a young age. She enjoys learning new skills and helping out around the practice. She has an interest in dogs and small furries especially Guinea pigs and rabbits. She hopes to gain more experience with large and small animals! Roisin is looking to specialise in hydrotherapy and physiotherapy when she graduates.

Caoilinn O'Regan - Nurse

Caoilinn recently qualified from Dundalk IT as a veterinary nurse. She did a placement with us in her final year and enjoyed the caring approach. She was determined to come back to work with us once qualified. She loves preparing patients for surgeries, monitoring anaesthesia and nursing animals in recovery. Her happy disposition is enjoyed by pets and their people who come into the clinic. She hopes to continue her studies once she has gained more experience. She is a fast learner so the sky is the limit!!

April – Animal Care Assistant

April Is our animal care assistant who studied Animal Science in Killester College. She has done work experience in Dog Trust and DSPCA. She started off as our receptionist and has progressed to Animal Care Assistant. She is hoping to go on to do vet nursing. April has always loved animals and is looking forward to welcoming you to the practice

Sally Ryan – Holistic & Conventional Vet

Sally has plenty of experience in the Veterinary area, as she qualified from UCD in 1984!
She worked in mixed practise for 15 years before specialising in the companion animal work.
She has mainly worked in her native county Wexford, in Wexford town and in Enniscorthy, as well a brief stint in the UK, and some shelter work with the DSPCA.. before joining the team here in Portmarnock in 2019.

her interest in holistic work drew her to this practice, as she had studied homeopathy from early on in he career, and holds qualifications in both human and animal homeopathy. She added acupuncture to her skill set 6 years ago, and uses both needles and Low Level Laser Therapy to benefit her patients, as well as nutritional supplementation,

She still lives in Co Wexford and commutes to and fro. Her beloved golden retriever Susie went everywhere with her until she passed on. She has a timeshare friend now in Bella, a cocker spaniel cross, and hopes to get back into chickens and maybe a goat to help with the garden!

Sarah – Vet Nurse

Sarah became part of the team as a student veterinary nurse initially in 2021.
She has had a keen interest in caring for animals from a young age. Her hobbies include horse riding and walking her dog Bella in her spare time. In June 2022 she received her Bsc in veterinary nursing from UCD and now works full time in the practice. An aspect of the job she enjoys is caring for and preparing animals for surgery, monitoring animals throughout surgery and looking after Animals as they recover. She is looking forward to expanding her knowledge and skills in her role as a qualified veterinary nurse. Sarah will provide the best care and attention to your animals which will also include lots of cuddles and pats.

Noelle - Receptionist

Noelle joined Portmarnock vet’s clinic in Oct 2021 as a receptionist / Administration Staff.
Noelle worked in Commercial Sales, Management, Events, etc for more than 20 years. She always had a love of animals bringing home all the strays from horses to goats and anything else that crossed her path. So once all her children were reared, she went back to college to follow her passion and studied Animal Science.
Her dream is to continue to learn as much as possible about animal care and behaviour. Apart from welcoming clients and animals alike at the practice in Portmarnock Noelle can normally be found on Howth Hill walking with her rescue dog Echo and some other dogs too. She is also involved in charity work.

Emma - Receptionist

Emma joined the team as a receptionist in February 2022. She spent 2 years in Killester College studying Animal Science, has done volunteer work with animals and has always had a love for animals. She loves all the furries that come into the practice, especially the rabbits as she has 3 of her own. Emma's favourite part of the job is giving all the animals a cuddle when they come in and she always has yummy treats. She hopes to build her skill and knowledge and is hoping to be an animal care assistant in the future.

Pepper - Maitre De

Pepper is the maitre d of the practice. She would love to be the boss and insists on the title Professor Pepper instead of Dr Pepper which is beneath her. She is one of Emily's dogs, her jobs include greeting everyone at the door, barking at delivery people, especially those in high viz jackets, playing with other dogs in the waiting room, jumping on people's knees, putting puppies in their place if they get rowdy and the occasional poo in the kennel room floor...least said about that the better. She has a calming influence on nervous patients and escorts them to their kennels. She can't see what the problem is. The practice is a fun place to hang out in as far as she is concerned. Except when she goes hunting for treats in the store room and gets locked in. She lives with Topper and two cats that refuse to play and loves doing fast speed runs on the golf course up in Howth.

Topper – Head Bouncer

Topper is the bouncer. He susses out the new patients as they come in. He checks we are doing our work correctly. He is a rescue dog and when he came to us he was obsessed with playing with balls. Emily has weaned him off and now he carries a big red rubber chew toy around the building and asks customers to throw it for him. If you do you are granted permission to stay and you will be his friend forever. His specialty is sitting up on his hind legs. He regularly flips onto his back for a belly rub. He loves swimming at the beach or in any pond he can find. He loves water and can regularly be found wallowing in ponds or playing in streams.

Sally – Client Relation Supervisor

Sally is our Client Relations Supervisor and Pepper's second in command. She was found in 2018 as a very young puppy and handed in to the practice. She went home with Elaine the nurse that day and the rest as they say is history. Sally is a Jack Russell/Dachshund cross and though she is small in size she is huge in personality. She is a Reading Dog through the Burns Foundation and helps primary school children to learn to love reading aloud and to enjoy interacting with dogs. She will do just about anything for a biscuit and will often bust out her repertoire of tricks to get one. She can be seen most days basking in the sunshine in front of the practice and her motto is "If you are passing by, feel free to say Hi."