Board Members Appointed to the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust

Justice Minister Naomi Long has appointed Mr Damian Walsh, Mr John Perry and Detective Chief Superintendent Anthony McNally as Board Members of the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust (PRRT).

Mr Walsh and Mr Perry are appointed as the statutory nominees of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland and Detective Chief Superintendent Anthony McNally is appointed as the statutory nominee of the Chief Constable of the PSNI.

Justice Minister, Naomi Long said: “I would like to congratulate Mr Walsh, Mr Perry and Detective Chief Superintendent McNally on their appointment.  Together they will bring a wealth of experience to this position and I wish them every success for their term of office at the Trust.”

PRRT is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) of the Department of Justice.  It provides psychological therapies, physiotherapy, coaching and development, training and education programmes (in accordance with assessed needs) to support: police officers retiring from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), or the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC (RUC GC); and other Justice partners.

Notes to editors: 

1. The PRRT Board shall consist of a Chairperson and six Board members.  One of the Board members is nominated by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and two are nominated by the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, subject to the approval of the Department. 

2. The procedure for the appointment of Board members is compliant with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Northern Ireland (CPANI) Code of Practice. The appointments are made by the Department of Justice taking account of its statutory duty under the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust Regulations 2014.

3. Membership of the PRRT Board is as follows:

     Michele Larmour, Chairperson

     Ms Bernie McCrory

     Ms Paula Kealey

     Dr Julie Aiken

     Mr Damian Walsh

     Mr John Perry

     Detective Chief Superintendent Anthony McNally

4. The tenure for the Board members will commence on 24 October 2022 and end on 23 October 2026.

5. The post does not attract remuneration. 

6. The appointment of Board Members is made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published.  Details of the declaration in relation to political activity are included below.

7. Pen Pictures

Damian Walsh

Mr Walsh began his career as a Senior Bank Official for TSB having completed professional qualifications in economics, accounting, business administration and Marketing and Statistics.  Mr Walsh joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1995 and served in Response in Strabane, County Tyrone.  In 1999 he transferred to Response in Belfast and was promoted to Sergeant in 2002.

He remained in Belfast and served in Tennent Street, Oldpark, Grosvenor Road and Tennent Street stations as a Response Sergeant. In 2015 he transferred to Belfast District Support Team where he remained until elected to his post as PFNI Treasurer.

Mr Walsh was first elected to his Regional Board as a Sergeant’s representative in 2014, and has since become Vice Chairman of the No 1 Regional Board.  He served on the PFNI Central Committee since 2014 and was Chair of the Welfare Health Safety and Security Sub Committee.

Mr Walsh has a particular interest in Health & Safety having represented PFNI at various Health and Safety Group meetings and is also a strong advocate for the PFNI Wellbeing Initiatives and promoting Wellbeing for Officers.  He was elected to the post of PFNI Secretary in June 2022.  He maintains a focus on officer wellbeing.

Political Activity:  None

John Perry

Mr Perry is Assistant Secretary of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) having previously served on PFNI Central Committee and as the Secretary of No 4 Regional Board.  He joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC in 1993 as a Part-time Reserve Constable stationed in Carrickfergus.  In 1997 he joined the RUCGC Full-time Reserve and was stationed in Andersonstown, before becoming a Regular Constable in 1999 serving for 9 years in Tennant Street and 14 years in Roads Policing.

His current roles include: Trustee of the RUC GC-PSNI Benevolent Fund Charity; Secretary of PFNI Constitution, Regulations, Training & Promotions Executive Sub Committee; Secretary of PFNI Equality & Diversity Forum; PFNI Lead on Roads Policing; and Member of the National Roads Policing Forum.

Political Activity:  None

Detective Chief Superintendent Anthony McNally

Detective Chief Superintendent McNally has 20 years policing experience, joining in the first intake of the new PSNI officers in 2002.  From 2008 to 2013 he was part of UK wide High Potential Development Scheme and graduated in 2013 from Warwick University Business School with an MSc in Leadership and Management.  His career has been broadly split between uniformed and Detective roles.  His uniformed experience includes being the Area Commander for Craigavon from 2011 to 2014 and West Belfast from 2014 to 2016.  His Detective career has included senior roles in both reactive and proactive complex investigations.  He took over the role as PSNI Head of Public Protection in May 2020 for which he oversees the PSNI response to Adult safeguarding, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Offender Management and Rape and Serious sexual crime.

Political Activity:  None

8. For media enquiries contact the Department of Justice Press Office at press.office@justice-ni.gov.uk

9. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted out of hours 028 9037 8110.

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