The Office team maintains a network of contacts in the European institutions, other regional representations, the British and Irish Permanent Representations and the Northern Ireland community in Brussels.
They aim to work particularly closely with the three Northern Ireland Members of the European Parliament.
Our team
The Office of the Northern Ireland Executive team consists of:
Northern Ireland Civil Servants
- Head of Office
- Deputy Head of Office
- Agriculture Policy Officer
- Policy Officer
Locally Engaged Staff
- Office Manager
- PA to Head of Office
- Visits and Events Officer
The Head of Office is Gerry Mulligan. As from 17 May 2010, Gerry took over from Evelyn Cummins who had been Head of Office since February 2006.
Gerry previously worked as Director of Equality within the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister and has been Head of the Equality, Rights and Social Need Division. In this post he had responsibility for the Northern Ireland Administration’s Strategy for Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion, for advising on the future direction of social needs policy generally and for Anti Discrimination Legislation.
Gerry has held previous posts of responsibility in a number of other Northern Ireland Departments. He was Head of Corporate Services in the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency within the Department of Finance and Personnel. He was also Head of Research and Statistics in the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and before that the Northern Ireland Office. He was recruited into the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1979 as a Social Researcher.
The Deputy Head of Office is Alasdair MacInnes who was appointed to the post in August 2006. He previously worked in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Farm Policy Branch and before that in Rural Development Central Unit and DARD's Private Office.
The Agriculture Policy officer is Eileen Kelly. Her role is to assist DARD to contribute to EU policy development and implementation on agri-food, veterinary, fisheries and rural development issues. Eileen provides information and analysis on legislative proposals affecting Northern Ireland and advises on policy developments, strategy and links with the European Institutions particularly the European Commission but increasingly the European Parliament. Eileen also supports the work of ONIEB to promote Northern Ireland's interest's within the European Union by facilitating the visits of Ministers and officials and by representing DARD at meetings and to visiting groups.
Noel Griffin joined the team in June 2008 with responsibility for Environment and Transport. He previously worked in the Department for Employment and Learning, including on the implementation of Success through Skills: the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Office Manager
Corinne Becquevort
PA to Head of Office
Heather Olbrechts-Lyons
Visits and Events Officer
Helen Wright joined the team in February 2010. Her role is to ensure the smooth running of Ministerial and other visits to Brussels and to organise events to promote Northern Ireland and its key policy objectives.
