Kellie Armstrong (née McGrattan; 8 September 1970) is an Alliance Party politician from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. She has been a member of the Legislative Assembly, the

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 Parliam ...

, for the Strangford constituency since the 2016 Assembly elections.

Political career

Armstrong has been an active member of the Alliance Party since 2009. She has held various positions within the Alliance Party including: secretary and chair of the Strangford Association branch, convenor of the Political Organisation – a committee of the Party Executive that oversees election and activist activities, member of the Party Executive, a member of the Alliance Women's Group and Vice Chair of the Party. Armstrong was co-opted onto Ards Borough Council to replace retiring member Kieran McCarthy. She was then elected in 2014 to

Ards and North Down Borough Council Ards and North Down Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Council. The first elections to the authority took place on 22 May 201 ...

representing the Ards Peninsula. Armstrong stood as the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

candidate in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

securing the highest-ever vote for an

representative in the Strangford constituency. Armstrong was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016 and again in 2017. Armstrong is the Deputy Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly's Committee for Communities and holds to account the department's actions with respect to housing, benefits, social strategies, Arts, Heritage and Sport. She is also the

member of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. Armstrong is an advocate of

Integrated education Integrated education in Northern Ireland refers to the bringing together of children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions in childhood education: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the ...

and is taking forward her private member's bill to legislate for better protection and promotion of

integrated education Integrated education in Northern Ireland refers to the bringing together of children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions in childhood education: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the ...

across

. She brought forward a motion calling on the NI Assembly to end use of designations and mandatory coalition.

Career before politics

For almost a decade, Armstrong was the Northern Ireland Director of the Community Transport Association (CTA). She gave legal and technical advice to organisations and government on transport legislation and passenger transport operations. Armstrong provided business development and governance advice for over 150 community organisations to enable better delivery of accessible transport services.

Personal life

Armstrong is married and has one daughter who attended integrated education. She is a politician with moderate hearing loss and an active campaigner on disability rights. She lives on a wildlife reserve on the

Ards Peninsula The Ards Peninsula () is a peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north-east coast of Ireland. It separates Strangford Lough from the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel of the Irish Sea. Towns and villages on t ...

References

External links

*
Link to Alliance Party Profile
*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Kellie 1970 births Living people People from County Down Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of Ards Borough Council Women councillors in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027