Cyril McKinney – Interim CEO

Cyril McKinney is our new interim Chief Executive Officer. He started his journey in the learning disability community after graduating as a nurse from the Downshire hospital in 1978. His involvement with the Newcastle Peter Pan and  Gateway Club sparked his passion for advocating for those with learning disabilities.

During 1988 Cyril trained as a social worker in 1988 and since then has experience in day care services and managed a residential unit for adults with a learning disability for 9 years  before taking  up a social work role in the Adult learning disability team within the Down sector in 2002 before moving to the Adult Protection team in 2013 and at the time of his retirement was senior manager for the service.

In 2001, Cyril, along with a few others, founded the Downpatrick Sports & Recreation Club to create a safe and inclusive space for fun activities. In 2018, Cyril joined the Mainstay DRP committee as a parent of one of the clients, and his extensive knowledge and understanding are highly respected within the Mainstay community.