Crossgar Man's Appointment To DETI Board

The appointments are for an initial period of three years effective from 21st March 2011. Dr Donal Flanagan – A Pen Portrait Donal Flanagan has been the Chief Executive of the CCMS since 1993. He began his teaching career in 1971 as an assistant teacher in the Holy Rosary Primary School and went on to become Principal of St Joseph’s Primary School in 1978. In 1979 he was appointed as an Education Officer in the South Eastern Education & Library Board where he held responsibility for different aspects of education provision. In 1987 he co-ordinated, at Board and regional level, the highly successful transfer of special care provision from health to education. In 1992 he moved to the CCMS where he became Deputy Chief Executive and later Chief Executive. In his capacity as the head of the organisation which employs approximately 9,000 teachers, Mr Flanagan was responsible for the establishment of the first dedicated teacher welfare service within the Education Service. Also, as a member of the Teachers’ Salaries Negotiating Committee, he has been responsible, on behalf of all the teacher employers, for leading the negotiations on many aspects of teachers’ terms and conditions of service. Mr Flanagan was instrumental in the establishment of the CCMS Working Party in 1993 – which produced a seminal report on raising school standards – and has been closely involved with a range of follow-up initiatives. The report of the Working Party ‘Raising Standards’ benchmarked expectations on school standards and has transformed the performance of Catholic Maintained Schools making the sector one where there are high standards and strong leadership. Throughout his career he has been closely associated with a range of youth groups and community development and in 1999 became the founding Chairman of the newly established and highly successful Community Centre in the village of Crossgar, where he lives. During the period 1994-2000 he was a member of CCEA and Chairman of its Communications Committee. He was also the Chairman of the Smaller Public Bodies Group and Staff Development and Performance Review Group. His membership of other relevant bodies extended to: ¨ Northern Ireland Business Education Partnership (NIBEP) ¨ Core Group of the Chief Executives’ Forum ¨ CCMS/Industry Liaison Panel ¨ Belfast Health Action Zone Council ¨ NISTRO ¨ Inter-Agency/Community Initiative (West Belfast Partnership) Presently, he is Chair of Middletown Centre for Autism and a non-executive member of board of the South Eastern Health Trust and a member of NIJAC. In 2008 his achievements were recognised in the New Years Honours List when he was awarded an OBE. In 2010 Mr Flanagan was recognised for his contribution to education by the National University of Ireland through the award of an honorary degree.]]>