Cathal McDonagh is a principal officer in the Department of Education and Youth’s Planning and Building Unit with responsibility for Strategic Infrastructural Appraisal which considers proposals for new large scale and additional school accommodation projects. The work also encompasses working with patrons and schools in order to optimise the use of the existing school estate to deliver critical mainstream and special education school places. He previously managed the Devolved Projects area of the PBU which involved financial and technical oversight of the delivery of large scale and additional school accommodation projects devolved for delivery to individual school authorities and other bodies.