Gerry Burns (1934–2020) was a senior civil servant in Northern Ireland renown for his report on education termed the ''Burns Report''. Gerry Burns was born in the

Falls Road, Belfast The Falls Road () is the main road through West Belfast, Northern Ireland, running from Divis Street in Belfast City Centre to Andersonstown in the suburbs. The name has been synonymous for at least a century and a half with the Catholic comm ...

district on November 15, 1934. He attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast followed by

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

from which he graduated with a BSc in economics. He then began a career in the Northern Ireland civil service and became chief executive of

Fermanagh District Council Fermanagh District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It was created out of Fermanagh County Council and later merged with Omagh District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Fermanagh and Omagh Di ...

. He retired from the council in 1996 and became

Northern Ireland Ombudsman The office of the NI Ombudsman, now known as the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO), was first established in Northern Ireland in 1969. The role of an independent ombudsman was originally created as a response to the Northern Irel ...

. He chaired a review of secondary education in Northern Ireland the report of which was termed the ''Burns Report''. It recommended the scrapping of the 11+ transfer examination. He was a survivor of the

Enniskillen bombing The Remembrance Day bombing (also known as the Enniskillen bombing or Poppy Day massacre) took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded near the town's ...

in 1987. Afterwards he was involved in various peace-building projects. With Gordon Wilson, he established the ''Spirit of Enniskillen Trust'' which was designed to encourage young people to work through local and international programmes to help understand and respect each other's traditions. He was also a director of the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

and a trustee of the Irish Times Trust. He died February 18, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Gerry 1934 births 2020 deaths Civil servants from Belfast Alumni of Queen's University Belfast People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast