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South Down (Assembly Constituency)
South Down is an electoral constituency for the Northern Ireland Assembly. It lies in the southern portion of County Down. The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973. It usually shares the same boundaries as the South Down UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes and from 1996 to 1997 when members of the Northern Ireland Forum had been elected from the newly drawn Parliamentary constituencies but the 51st Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected in 1992 under the 1983–95 constituency boundaries, was still in session. Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998. Some of the most high-profile MLAs for the constituency have included Cait ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast. The Assembly is a unicameral, democratically elected body comprising 90 members known as members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Members are elected under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (STV-PR). In turn, the Assembly selects most of the ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive using the principle of power-sharing under the D'Hondt method to ensure that Northern Ireland's largest voting blocs, British unionists and Irish nationalists, both participate in governing the region. The Assembly's standing orders allow for certain contentious motions to require a cross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the north, the Irish Sea to the east, County Armagh to the west, and County Louth across Carlingford Lough to the southwest. In the east of the county is Strangford Lough and the Ards Peninsula. The largest settlement is Bangor, County Down, Bangor, a city on the northeast coast. Three other large towns and cities are on its border: Newry lies on the western border with County Armagh, while Lisburn and Belfast lie on the northern border with County Antrim. Down contains both the southernmost point of Northern Ireland (Cranfield Point) and the easternmost point of Ireland (Burr Point). It was one of two counties of Northern Ireland to have a Protestant majority at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census. The other Protestant-m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Faulkner
Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the Chief Executive of Northern Ireland, chief executive of the short-lived Northern Ireland Executive (1974), Northern Ireland Executive during the first half of 1974. Faulkner was also the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1971 to 1974. Early life Faulkner was born in Helen's Bay, County Down, Ireland, two months before the creation of Northern Ireland. The elder of two sons of James and Nora Faulkner. His younger brother was Colonel (British Army), Colonel Sir Dennis Faulkner, CBE VRD UD DL. James Faulkner owned the Belfast Collar Company which traded under the name Faulat. At that time, Faulat was the largest single-purpose shirt manufacturer in the world, employing some 3,000 people. Brian Faulkner was educated initially at Elm Park pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Feely
Frank Feely is a former Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician and teacher in Northern Ireland. Background Feely worked as a teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ... in Newry. At the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was elected for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in South Down. He held this seat at the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, and at the 1982 Assembly election. In common with other SDLP members, he did not take his seat on the Constitutional Convention, and instead acted as an alternate at the New Ireland Forum. He was elected to Newry and Mourne District Council in 1989 representing Newry Town, and has held his seat at each subsequent election. In 1996, Feely was elected to the Northe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie McGrady
Edward Kevin McGrady (3 June 1935 – 11 November 2013) was an Irish nationalist politician of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 1987 to 2010. McGrady was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 1998 to 2003. Early life Born in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, one of eleven children, McGrady was educated at St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick and at Belfast Technical College, where he trained as a chartered accountant, subsequently entering his family's accountancy firm. Political career McGrady entered politics in 1961 as an Independent Nationalist councillor on Downpatrick Urban Council, serving as chairman from 1964 until the council was replaced by Down District Council in 1973. In the late 1960s he joined the National Democrats and stood for the party in the 1969 election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland in East Down, losing to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick O'Donoghue (politician)
Patrick O'Donoghue (1930–1989) was a Northern Ireland politician active in the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) for a number of years. Biography A native of Castlewellan and an active member of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Association for Legal Justice, O'Donoghue represented the SDLP on Down District Council from 1973 to 1985.W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, ''Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968–1993'', Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 250 O'Donoghue was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 1973 election for South Down and served as Deputy Speaker of this body. He also served in the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (NICC) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of N ... and returned to the Assembly in the 1982 election. Refere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John McCallister
John McCallister (born 20 February 1972) is a former Northern Irish Unionist politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2007 to 2016. He was initially an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) representative, later serving as deputy leader, as well as an unsuccessful candidate in the 2012 leadership election. On 14 February 2013, McCallister announced that he had resigned from the UUP due to its decision to engage in an electoral pact with the Democratic Unionist Party. He was a co-founder of the NI21 party with fellow ex-UUP member Basil McCrea but resigned the following year following disputes with McCrea. He was defeated at the subsequent Assembly election. Political career A native of Rathfriland, John McCallister has had a strong interest in agriculture and environmental issues in the community and voluntary sector and has been assigned to serve on the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and the Committee for Regional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Ritchie (politician)
Margaret Mary Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (born 25 March 1958), is a Northern Irish politician who was the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down (Assembly constituency), South Down from 2003 to 2012, and was the Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland), Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down (UK Parliament constituency), South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a life peer in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member, and then from October 2021 as a Labour Party (UK), Labour member. Political career Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick is a graduate of The Queen's University of Belfast, and served as parliamentary assistant to Eddie McGrady, MP, from 1987 to 2003. Ritchie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caitríona Ruane
Caitríona Ruane (born 1962) is a Sinn Féin politician who served as the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2016 to 2017, and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2017. In the first Northern Ireland Executive under First Minister Ian Paisley and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness she was appointed Minister of Education. She faced opposition over the scrapping of the Transfer Examination ( 11-plus) and her subsequent plans for a replacement. She was replaced by John O'Dowd after the 2011 election. Background Ruane is a former professional tennis player who represented Ireland in the Fed Cup. She now lives in Carlingford, County Louth and is married with two children. In the past Ruane has acted as director of the Féile an Phobail and chairperson of the St Patrick's Carnival Committee in Belfast. "Bring Them Home" campaign Ruane was a prominent member of the ''Bring Them Home'' campaign for the Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982
The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was dissolved in 1986. Origins The Assembly emerged as a result of initiatives by the then Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland, Humphrey Atkins and James Prior. The first step in this process was a white paper called The Government of Northern Ireland: A Working Paper for a Conference, published on 20 November 1979. This established a conference, attended the following year by the Democratic Unionist Party, the Alliance Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). (The UUP refused to become involved in protest at a decision to allow discussions on an Irish dimension, discussions which the DUP also boycotted.) Talks between the DUP, Alliance and SDLP took place between 7 January and 24 March 1980, but failed to reach agreement. In July 1980, the British Gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (NICC) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of Northern Ireland. Formation of the Constitutional Convention The idea for a constitutional convention was first mooted by the Northern Ireland Office in its white paper ''The Northern Ireland Constitution'', published on 4 July 1974. The paper laid out plans for elections to a body which would seek agreement on a political settlement for Northern Ireland. The proposals became law with the enactment of the Northern Ireland Act 1974 later that month. With Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord Chief Justice Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry, Robert Lowry appointed to chair the new body, elections were announced for 1 May 1975. The elections were held for the 78-member body using the single transferable vote system of proportional representatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of The United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral, it has three parts: the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The three parts acting together to legislate may be described as the King-in-Parliament. The Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation. The House of Commons is the elected lower chamber of Parliament, with elections to 650 single-member constituencies held at least every five years under the first-past-the-post system. By constitutional conventi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
