Re-appointment of members to the Exceptional Circumstances Body

The Department of Education has re-appointed 42 members of the Exceptional Circumstances Body (ECB) for a further two years of service.

The ECB is a Tribunal Non-Departmental Public Body which examines applications from parents/guardians where it is asserted that, due to exceptional circumstances, a child must attend a specified post-primary school having been unable to gain admission through the normal competitive admissions processes.

The Body was established by the Department in 2010 and currently has 43 serving members, 42 of whom have agreed to a further two years of service with effect from 1 July 2016.  Members are drawn from a variety of professional backgrounds (mainly in the fields of education, child welfare and law) and are appointed as either legal or lay members of a panel that hears each application received by the Body.

The fifteen legal members being re-appointed are:

• Ms Eileen Brady
• Mr Michael Flanigan
• Mrs Sarah Havlin
• Mr David Hunter
• Ms Teresa Leonard
• Ms Carol McClean
• Mrs Anne MacRandal
• Ms Anne Marshall
• Mr Timothy Mayes
• Mrs Patricia Montgomery
• Mr Joe Moore
• Mr Eamon O'Connor
• Ms Eithne Ryan
• Mr Paul Shevlin
• Ms Htaik Win

Twenty seven lay members are being re-appointed as follows:

• Mrs Alannah Brown
• Mrs Deirdre Brown
• Mr Seamus Duffy
• Mrs Angela Hampton
• Ms Miriam Karp
• Mrs Arlene Kee
• Mrs Karen Keers
• Mrs Mary McCartan
• Mr Brendan McConville
• Mr Wilbert McKee
• Mr Trevor Magee
• Mr Diarmuid Maginn
• Dr Robert Maguire
• Mr David Moore
• Mr Tim O'Prey
• Mrs Diana Press
• Mr Arthur Rainey
• Mrs Gillian Reid
• Mr Bill Reilly
• Miss Marion Reynolds
• Miss Sheelagh Sleath
• Mr Stanley Smith
• Mrs Andrea Smyth
• Mrs Susan Smyth
• Mr Peter Somerville
• Mr Gerald Strong
• Ms Barbara Stuart

Notes to editors: 

1. The ECB was established, and its members appointed, in accordance with its statutory duty to do so under Article 16A of the Education (NI) Order 1997 and the School Admissions (Exceptional Circumstances) Regulations (NI) 2010.
2. Appointments to the ECB are made by the Department and not the Minister for Education.
3. Members only receive a remuneration fee for hearings actually attended plus reimbursement of any expenses incurred.
4. Media enquiries to the Department of Education’s Communications Team on Tel: 028 9127 9268. Out of office hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699715440 and your call will be returned.

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