Ms Carragher will join the Board in October. She will also take the role of Chair of HLF’s Committee for Northern Ireland.

Ms Carragher will be part of a 15-strong Board which runs both NHMF and HLF. Its role is to steer the policy and direction of the two Funds and take decisions on grant applications. NHMF, the nation’s grant-in-aid fund of last resort for heritage, has a current annual budget of up to £5million. To date, HLF has awarded £7.1bn to over 40,000 heritage projects across the UK. Its grant budget for 2016-17 is £400m.

Projects funded in Northern Ireland over the past 22 years include: Giant’s Causeway, Enniskillen Castle, Linenhall Librar and HMS Caroline.

Anna Carragher

Anna Carragher has 40 years of experience working in the public service in both executive and non-executive roles.

Brought up in Belfast, Ms Carragher attended Queen’s University where she took an Honours Degree in English Literature and had the great privilege of being taught by Seamus Heaney. After graduating she joined the BBC and worked across radio and television producing a range of news and current affairs programmes, including Today and Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 and Man Alive, Question Time and Newsnight on BBC television.

Anna returned to Northern Ireland as Head of Programmes in 1995 and oversaw output throughout the peace negotiations and the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Among her commissions as Head of Programmes were Give My Head Peace, PK Tonight, Hearts and Minds, The Stephen Nolan Show and the Legacy series on Radio Ulster. She became Controller, BBC Northern Ireland, in 2001 with editorial and managerial responsibility for the Corporation in Northern Ireland.

After leaving the BBC in 2006, Anna became the Chair of the Grand Opera House Trust. She also served as a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and a Commissioner for the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland. She is currently a member of the Board of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Electoral Commissioner for Northern Ireland and a trustee of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust.

Notes to editor

Anna Carragher has been appointed by the Prime Minister as Deputy Chair and Trustee for Northern Ireland of NHMF/HLF for three years, from 7 October 2016 until 6 October 2019. The role attracts £20,749 per annum. The appointment has been made in accordance with the OCPA Code of Practice. It is a requirement of the Code that political activity by those appointed is declared. Anna Carragher has declared no such political activity.