Sean Nial Farren (born 6 September 1939) is an Irish

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 ...

(SDLP)

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and academic who was a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

(MLA) for North Antrim from 1998 to 2007.

Academic career

Farren studied at the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

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 ...

(BA), University of Essex (MA) and the University of Ulster (PhD). He 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 ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

before becoming a lecturer at the University of Ulster. Since 2008 he has been a visiting professor in the School of Education at Ulster University. He has also been involved in a number of projects aimed at strengthening democratic institutions in the Middle East, North Africa, West and East Africa. He is currently a member of the Governing Authority of

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...

, a Trustee of

Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation in 1968 it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's poor ...

(UK), a member of the Standing Committee of the Development Studies Association of Ireland (DSAI) and a committee member of the Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (SLIP).

Political career

Farren contested the Westminster seat of North Antrim as a member of the

(SDLP) at the 1979 general election, and stood at each subsequent general election until 2005. In 1982, Farren was elected to 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 ...

in North Antrim. In line with SDLP policy, he instead sat on the

New Ireland Forum The New Ireland Forum was a forum in 1983–1984 at which Irish nationalist political parties discussed potential political developments that might alleviate the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Forum was established by Garret FitzGerald, then ...

(1983–4). Farren was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each List o ...

in 1996, again for North Antrim, and held this seat in the

in 1998 and 2003, before standing down at the 2007 election.

Personal

He is married to Patricia Clarke. They have four children. He and Patricia live in

Portstewart Portstewart () is a small seaside town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 7,854 people in the 2021 United Kingdom census. It is a seaside resort, neighbouring both Coleraine in County Londonderry and Portrush in Cou ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

Publications

He has authored, co-authored or edited four books: * ''The Politics of Irish Education'' (1995) * ''SDLP – the Struggle for Agreement in Northern Ireland'' (2010), with Robert Mulvihill * ''Paths to a Settlement in Northern Ireland'' (2000) * ''John Hume: Irish Peacemaker'' (2015) with Denis Haughey. He has written many book chapters, peer reviewed and other articles. He also wrote the paper ''

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...

: An Agreement Too Soon?'''','' in which the circumstances behind the agreement and the elements that caused its collapse are examined.

References

Northern Ireland Executive: Sean Farren Biography
* Sunningdale: An Agreement too soon? {{DEFAULTSORT:Farren, Sean 1939 births Living people Academics of Ulster University Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the University of Essex Alumni of Ulster University Alumni of the National University of Ireland Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) People from Portstewart Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Ministers of finance and personnel of Northern Ireland