Prisons’ Minister Paul Goggins today announced the appointment of Jonathan Hegan and Donald Price as Non-Executive Directors of the Northern Ireland Prison Service Board for the Replacement of Magilligan Prison. The Programme Board will provide the strategic oversight and direction for the building of the replacement prison at Magilligan and will advise the Director of the Prison Service on issues relating to the scope, progress and investment of the project.

Commenting on the appointments, which are for a three year period, the Minister said;

“The experience that Jonathan and Donald bring to the table will prove invaluable as the process to build the new 800 cell prison now gets underway.

“I am delighted to welcome them to the Board at what is a crucial time for the Prison Service as it delivers on its strategy for the development of the adult male estate. Their respective skills and expertise in the construction and financial sectors will enable them to make an informed contribution to the replacement project as work now begins to focus on the development of the exemplar design, outline business case and the examination of procurement options.

“Only when this is done can we proceed to the tender stage, the appointment of preferred bidders and the commencement of construction, which will be undertaken on a phased basis.”


JONATHAN HEGAN
Jonathan, who retired in June of this year, is a past Chairman of RPS Consulting Engineers (Northern Ireland) and he has almost forty years experience of Civil Engineering projects in Ireland, England and the Middle East. From 1992 he specialised in Project Management and Construction Health and Safety in both the public and private sector, covering a wide variety of schemes in both the industrial and infrastructural spheres.

He was also senior partner of Kirk, McClure and Morton (Consulting Engineers) before their acquisition by RPS on 1 October 2004. He supervised the merger programme on behalf of the partnership.

Jonathan’s key competences are in the areas of Project Management, Strategic planning, health and Safety and Supervising Civil Engineering. He has extensive experience in the design and on-site construction of water engineering projects, commercial and industrial buildings, roads and drainage.

DONALD PRICE
Donald Price was Chief Executive of the Northern Bank from 1998 until his retirement in June of this year. Prior to this he held a number of senior management positions in Northern Ireland and overseas.

From 1995-98 he was Managing Director of Belfast Telegraph Newspapers and for the three years previous to this appointment he was Managing Director of Northern Ireland Railways Company Ltd. He also worked for British Petroleum for 18 years holding a number of commercial management postings in Europe, Asia and Africa.

He is currently a Non-Executive Director of The Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Northern Ireland Water.


Notes to Editors

1. Jonathan Hegan and Donald Price will be paid a remuneration of £6,000 per annum for their contribution to the Programme Board.

2. The Programme Board is chaired by Robin Masefield, Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, and has a membership of 10 people, including three Non-Executive Directors (the third one is Sidney McDowell, who is also a Non-Executive Director of The Prison Service Management Board).

3. In December 2007 Prisons’ Minister Paul Goggins announced that a new 800 cell prison would be built on site to replace the existing Magilligan Prison.

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