PRII Certificate in Executive ETB Communications

This certificate is designed for ETB Directors who play a multifaceted role—navigating relationships with key stakeholders and overseeing their organisation’s communications with the broader public and media.

1. Build communications capacity across the ETB sector.  
2. Promote understanding and deployment of Strategic Communications across the ETB sector, as a key contributor to organisational success.  
3. Support ETB Directors in their roles and build cross-directorate communications networking 

The programme, commencing in January 2026, will have 8 online sessions of approximately 2.5 hours duration. These will be delivered online via Zoom.

• Session 1: Tuesday, 13th January - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Strategic Communications)
• Session 2: Tuesday, 10th February - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Strategic Communications)
• Session 3: Tuesday, 3rd March - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Resourcing, Evaluation & Measurement)
• Session 4: Tuesday, 24th March - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Effective Communications and Risk Management)
• Session 5: Tuesday, 14th April - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Public Affairs)
• Session 6: Tuesday, 12th May - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Internal Communications)
• Session 7: Tuesday, 9th June - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Social Media and Artificial intelligence)
• Session 8: Tuesday, 23rd June or Tuesday, 30th June TBC - live online 10am - 12:30pm (Review and Insights from the Programme)

Niall Quinn MPRII 

Barrister-at-Law, Accredited Mediator, Strategic Communications Advisor, PRII Diploma Lecturer & Past PRII President 

Niall Quinn, MPRII is a practising barrister, mediator and strategic communications advisor with over 20 years' experience in issues and crisis management. A former President of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and non-executive Director of the Public Relations Consultants Association, he lectures in strategic communications and directs the PRII’s professional certification programme in issues and crisis communications as well as being engaged for strategic communications assignments.

A BSc (Mgmt) graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he completed his postgraduate studies in law at King’s Inns, Dublin and undertook the Barrister-at-Law degree programme before being called to the Bar of Ireland in 2015. He subsequently completed training as a mediator and enjoys Accredited Mediator status from the Mediators' Institute of Ireland and is a member of its Organisational and Workplace Mediation Committee.

Niall has recently completed a term as a member of the National Oversight and Audit Commission, a statutory body which has an oversight role in the Local Authority sector and was appointed to the board of the National Treatment Purchase Fund in May 2023. Last year he was selected by the Mental Health Commission for its panel of Decision Making Representatives to be appointed under the Assisted Decision Making Act 2015.

Niall teaches Module 1 - Strategic Value of Public Relations & Professional Environment on the PRII Diploma in Public Relations.

 

Dermot Ryan MPRII 

Chair, Alice Public Relations, Principal, DR Advisory

Dermot Ryan has worked in Public Affairs for almost 30 years, in a variety of in house and agency roles with a focus on public sector, not for profit and political campaigning. He currently serves as Chair of Alice Public Relations, an award winning agency with a focus on helping organisations to achieve positive progressive change.

In 2004, Dermot co-founded a leading Public Affairs agency in Dublin, which he co-directed for seven years before moving to Australia where he served as a political Chief of Staff, and as Head of External Affairs with Amnesty International.

A skilled trainer and facilitator, Dermot has qualifications from the Learning and Development Institute and the Irish Management Institute, and has designed and delivered training for Women for Election and for the Washington DC based National Democratic Institute.

Earlier in his career, Dermot worked as media advisor to Adi Roche in her role as Head of Chernobyl Children International, the world’s leading not-for-profit organisation working to alleviate suffering from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

 

Andrew Bruce Smith

Andrew Bruce Smith FCIPR, MPRCA, is a member of the PRII AI in PR Working Group, set up in 2023.

Andrew is a renowned expert in artificial intelligence and its applications in PR and communications, social media, SEO, and analytics. With a foundational education in Philosophy and Mathematical Logic from the University of Edinburgh (1981-1985), he developed a keen interest in AI early in his career. Andrew further honed his skills in AI programming languages in the late 1980s, a time when AI was still nascent.

Pioneering the adoption of AI content tools such as Wordsmith in the early 2010s, Andrew has consistently stayed at the forefront of technological innovation. This, coupled with his leadership as the Chair of the CIPR’s AI in PR panel, makes him a much sought-after speaker and commentator on the impact of AI.

In 2018, the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) hailed him as “one of PR's greatest thinkers”. He was instrumental in the CIPR’s 2021 Professional Practice Review into Research, Measurement and Evaluation in Public Relations and Communications, where his expertise in AI played a significant role.

He has shared his expertise with over 3,000 organisations over the last 15 years, including NATO, the Department of Environment (DEFRA), NHS, Specsavers, Sky, Jaguar Land Rover, Disney, and many others.

 

May Flanagan

May Flanagan CIIC is a change communications consultant, facilitator, and certified member of the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) and Learning & Development Institute (L&DI), as well as the IoIC Network Lead for Ireland. She brings 13+ years of global experience in marketing and communications, specialising in change communication. May has delivered training and consultancy for clients such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Deloitte Ireland, Ardagh Group and Grow Remote (in partnership with LOETB). With expertise in digital transformation, hybrid working, and stakeholder engagement, May's style is practical, inclusive, and focused on empowering learners to implement insights from day one. 

To reinforce learning, the programme will include a key assessment task. This will be graded. Participants will be tasked with conducting a communications audit to assess if their ETBs communication activities. They will establish what is working well, what is not, what could be improved and how could this be done.