Clare Bailey (born 18 June 1970) is a Northern Irish politician who was the Leader of Green Party Northern Ireland from November 2018 to August 2022, and was the Deputy Leader of the Green Party from 2014 to 2017. Bailey was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Early life

Bailey was born in Clonard on the Lower Falls. She was one of the first 28 pupils of Lagan College, Northern Ireland's first integrated school. She later attended

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 = ...

Political career

Bailey identifies as pro-choice and a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. She was a client escort for women accessing healthcare advice at the Belfast Marie Stopes Clinic, enduring assault and intimidation from anti-abortion protesters. She has also worked supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse. In 2011 she stood unsuccessfully for the Laganbank district electoral area on Belfast City Council, narrowly missing a seat and coming 6th in a 5-seat district electoral area. Bailey was elected as an MLA in Belfast South at the

2016 Assembly election Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

. She nearly trebled the Green Party vote in the area compared to the previous Assembly election. Political commentators considered her election so unlikely that pundit Alex Kane said he would sing on the steps of the Assembly if Bailey was elected. Kane kept this promise and was filmed by the BBC doing so. Bailey was re-elected to the Assembly in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. She served as the Greens' Deputy Leader until 2017. In November 2018, Bailey became Leader of the Green Party. In May 2019, Bailey ran unsuccessfully for European Parliament, receiving 12,471 votes which placed her 7th and increased the Greens' share of the vote by 0.48%. In March 2022, Bailey secured cross-party support and successfully passed a bill through the Assembly creating 'safe zones' around abortion clinics to prevent the harassment of women. Bailey also proposed her own Climate Change Bill, and ultimately succeeded in strengthening Minister Edwin Poots' eventual Climate Change Bill. Bailey said that Poots' Bill "simply wouldn’t be in place" if it wasn't for the Green Party proposing a climate bill in the first place. Speaking ahead of the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months ...

, Bailey highlighted the Green Party's outsized influence in the Assembly by noting that the Greens' policies, previously dismissed by rival parties, were now appearing in their manifestos. In the election, she lost her seat to Lord Mayor of Belfast

Kate Nicholl Kate Siobhan Nicholl (born 4 May 1988) is a Northern Irish politician who is an MLA for Belfast South and who served as the 79th Lord Mayor of Belfast from June 2021 until her election as an MLA in May 2022. She is a member of the Alliance P ...

of the Alliance Party. After the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Bailey chose not to stand for re-election as leader. She was succeeded by

Mal O'Hara Malachai O'Hara (born 28 July 1979) is a Northern Irish politician who has been the Leader of the Green Party Northern Ireland since August 2022, and was Deputy Leader of the Green Party from 2019 to 2022. O'Hara was a councillor on Belfast City ...

in August 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Clare 1970 births Living people Green Party in Northern Ireland MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Feminists from Northern Ireland Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022