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28 November 2007

The Community Relations Council today announces the names of 10 new additional Council members who will be joining the existing members of its Board.

Six of the ten will join immediately and the remaining four (marked *) will join in April 2008 when most of its existing members retire.

The new members are:

Mark Campbell, born in Strabane and a serving member of the British Army from which he is due to retire shortly;

James Deery, a community development worker with the Ashton Community Trust in North Belfast;

Stephen Farry, Alliance Party MLA for North Down and currently Mayor of North Down Borough Council;

Hazel Francey, a senior official of Belfast City Council where she is currently the Good Relations Manager;

Sylvia Gordon, Development Manager at Groundwork NI where she is attempting to deliver community cohesion through environmental regeneration;

Tony Kennedy, Chief Executive of Co-operation Ireland;

*Rosaleen McCorley, a republican ex-prisoner and until recently an Outreach co-ordinator with Coiste na nIarchimi, and now a Sinn Fein political adviser.

*Stella McDermott, Casework Manager with the Heritage Lottery Fund in Northern Ireland

*Eamonn Oakes, a former Chair of the Northern Ireland Committee of ICTU and currently  project manager for City Bridges which trains senior trade union representatives on peace and reconciliation.

*David Porter, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland.

The new members join, and gradually replace, the existing 14 Council members, John Cousins, Ward Erwin, Eileen Gallagher, Maureen Hetherington, Eamonn McCartan, Nelson McCausland, Tony McCusker, Maura Muldoon, Chris O’Halloran, Declan O’Loan, David Stevens, Michael Wardlow, Caroline Wilson and Robin Wilson (see CRC Annual Report www.nicrc.org.uk  for brief profiles of existing members). The terms of office of nine of the existing members expire in March 2008 and the remainder in March 2009.

The new members were appointed by the Council after interviews following public advertisement. Council membership is unsalaried and the term of office is for three years.

The Community Relations Council was established as a registered charity in 1990 to lead and support change in Northern Ireland towards reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust. It receives funding from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, the EU Peace Programme and the International Fund for Ireland. Last year it supported almost 900 community relations and victim support projects.   

For further information contact

Ray Mullan

Director of Communications

Community Relations Council

Tel 90-227500