Next Permanent Secretary to DRD announced

The Head of the Civil Service, Mr Gerry Loughran, has announced the appointment of the new Permanent Secretary at the Department for Regional Development.

Stephen Quinn, currently Permanent Secretary in the Department of the Environment, will succeed Nigel Hamilton who takes up his post as Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service – following the retirement of Mr Loughran – on 1 October. Mr Quinn takes up his new post on the same day.

Regional Development Minister Peter Robinson said: “I welcome the appointment of Mr Quinn as the new Permanent Secretary within my Department. He has amply demonstrated his capabilities as Permanent Secretary in the Department of the Environment and is fully familiar with the issues within the Department for Regional Development. I very much look forward to working with him as we seek to address the challenges confronting DRD.”

Mr Quinn was born in Belfast and educated in Enniskillen before taking a degree in History and Political Science at Trinity College, Dublin. He joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1974 and served in the Departments of Finance and Personnel, Health and Social Services, Education and Central Secretariat before joining 'pre-devolution' Department of the Environment in November 1998. He has spent substantial periods of his Civil Service career dealing with public expenditure matters in the Department of Finance and Personnel.

He was the Permanent Secretary responsible for the 'post-devolution' Department of the Environment since December 1999.

Mr Quinn is married and lives in Holywood, Co Down.

There will be an open competition to fill the vacancy in the Department of the Environment.

(GMcG)