Assembly Appointments

The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission has announced the appointment of a new Chairperson and independent member to its Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee. 

Mr Colm McKenna, who has been a member of the Committee since 2009, took up the position of Chairperson on 1 December 2011.  Mr McKenna is a retired senior official of the Bank of Ireland, and currently serves as Chair of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

Mr Douglas Bain will join the Committee as an independent member.  He is a retired senior official of the Northern Ireland Office and former Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland, and currently serves on the Parades Commission. He will take up his position before the end of February.

Speaker of the Assembly and Chairman of the Assembly Commission, William Hay MLA, said, “The Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee provides essential support to both the Commission and to the Director General in relation to the governance of the Assembly Secretariat.

“Both Colm McKenna and Douglas Bain are highly experienced and skilled. They will play an important independent and objective role in scrutinising and challenging the Secretariat’s governance procedures and, in particular, its management of risk.”

ENDS

Mr Colm McKenna, Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission's Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee	Mr Douglas Bain, newly appointed independent member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission's Secretariat Audit and Risk Committee