Eóin Tennyson (born 17 May 1998) is a Northern Irish politician who has been the deputy leader of the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland ...

since October 2024. He succeeded former deputy leader Stephen Farry who resigned from the position in 2024. He has been a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for Upper Bann since

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, where he defeated former

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...

incumbent Dolores Kelly to become the youngest MLA for the constituency. He is the youngest member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Tennyson was a successful candidate in the 2024 Alliance Party deputy leadership election.

Early life and career

Tennyson attended St. Patrick's Academy, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

. He studied accounting at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

, graduating with

bachelor of science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in 2019. While at university, he was elected chair of Alliance Youth. In 2020, he obtained a Master of Accounting from the

Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School The UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School is the graduate business school of University College Dublin (UCD) and is located in Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland, on the site of the former teacher-training Carysfort College. Undergraduate bus ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. He subsequently joined

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

in Belfast as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

and began training as a chartered accountant.

Political career

Early career

Tennyson was elected to

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council is a local authority that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Armagh City and District Council, Banbridge District Council and Craigavon Borough Council. The first elections to the ...

in the 2019 local elections, representing the Lagan River district electoral area. He polled 10.81% of the first-preference votes, and gained a seat at the expense of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

. In December, he contested the 2019 general election in Upper Bann, placing third with 13% of the vote. Though unsuccessful, he obtained a swing of 8.4% and polled ahead of Doug Beattie of the UUP and Dolores Kelly of the

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs ...

Member of the Legislative Assembly

Tennyson was elected as a

(MLA) for Upper Bann in the 2022 Assembly election, outpolling the leader of the

(UUP) and gaining a seat at the expense of the

's (SDLP) Dolores Kelly. He polled 6,440 (11.5%) first-preference votes, increasing Alliance's share by 6.2% on the previous Assembly election. Tennyson became the first non-designated politician to be elected for the Upper Bann constituency. At 23-years-old, he also became the youngest MLA elected to the Assembly, and gained the unofficial title of Baby of the House. He is the third openly gay MLA to serve, joining his party colleagues John Blair and Andrew Muir. During the course of the 2022 campaign, Tennyson faced abuse and intimidation. On one occasion, he was verbally abused and told to leave a 'Protestant area' when canvassing in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

. At a sitting of the Assembly on 30 May 2022, Tennyson accused the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

(DUP) of treating the public as "leverage", after the party refused to assent to the election of a Speaker and blocked formation of an Assembly in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol. He subsequently called on the

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The offi ...

to stop the salaries of MLAs who refused to enter the Assembly in order to incentivise the DUP to "get back to work". Following the restoration of devolution in February 2024, Tennyson was appointed to the

Committee for Finance The Committee for Finance is a Northern Ireland Assembly committee established to advise, assist and scrutinise the work of the Department of Finance (Northern Ireland), Department of Finance and the Minister of Finance (currently Caoimhe Archiba ...

and became a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. He contested Upper Bann at the 2024 general election, coming third, with a small increase in his vote by 0.7%.

Deputy leadership campaign (2024)

On 24 September 2024, Tennyson announced that he was nominated as a candidate in the 2024 Alliance Party deputy leadership election. While it was initially expected he would run unopposed, South Belfast MLA Kate Nicholl also put her name forward for the position. In a campaign announcement video uploaded to X, Tennyson stated that "my candidacy is not about a change in direction, but a change in gear. I'm keen to build on the momentum left behind by Stephen arryand his enormous legacy and to work with Naomi ongand our vibrant leadership team to grow the party even further."

Deputy leader of the Alliance Party

Tennyson was elected deputy leader of the Alliance Party on 8 October 2024. He said working with party leader

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024, having previously served from January 2020 to October 202 ...

is an "important role" that he was excited to begin.

Personal life

Tennyson came out as gay at age 19.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tennyson, Eoin Living people Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 Gay politicians from Northern Ireland Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of University College Dublin 1998 births People educated at St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon Alliance Party parliamentary candidates