Stewart Dickson (born 8 December 1950) is an

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 ...

politician who has been 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 East Antrim since 2011.

Political career

Councillor (1977-1981, 1985-2011)

Dickson entered politics in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, when he was elected to

Carrickfergus Borough Council Carrickfergus Borough Council was a district council in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymena Borough Council and Larne Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Mid a ...

representing Area A, the predecessor of the Knockagh Monument electoral area. He lost his seat to 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 ...

in the 1981 local elections but regained it at the 1985 local elections and has been re-elected at each local election since then. He served as Mayor from 1992 to 1993.Newtownabbey Times, 23 February 2007
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Member of the Legislative Assembly (2011-)

He ran as the 2nd Alliance Party candidate in East Antrim from the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum to the 2007 Assembly Elections, alongside Seán Neeson but was not elected until the 2011 Assembly Elections; where he inherited Seán Neeson's seat following his retirement. Dickson was re-elected at the subsequent

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Assembly Elections, and was returned again in the 2022 Assembly Elections alongside his running mate Danny Donnelly - who gained a seat from the UUP's Roy Beggs.

Personal life

Stewart is a Trustee of the NI Cancer Charity, OG Cancer NI having been diagnosed with Oesophageal Cancer in July 2019 and underwent major surgery later that year. Outside political life, he is a retired member of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance trade union and the Greenisland Presbyterian Church where he and his wife Sandra are both Elders. He is a former long-serving member and Chair of the Boards of Governors of Carrickfergus Central and Silverstream Primary Schools. Stewart is a Winston Churchill Fellow, having completed his fellowship on: ‘How to create and sustain a small business’. He travelled to the New England States of the United States for his fellowship in 1999. Prior to his election to the NI Assembly, he worked as Arbitration Secretary at the Northern Ireland Labour Relations Agency.

References

External links

Link to Alliance Party Website ProfileOfficial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Stewart Living people 1950 births People from County Antrim Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Members of Carrickfergus Borough Council Mayors of places in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027