Posts tagged ‘Political Platform’
Political Platform: Judith Cochrane MLA
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Judith Cochrane was elected as an Alliance MLA for East Belfast in May 2011. She was a Castlereagh East councillor from 2005 to November 2011. Judith is Alliance’s Spokeswoman for Social Development, and Finance and Personnel. She lives in East Belfast, with her husband Jonathan and two daughters, Emma and Jessica, and previously worked as a management consultant and MP Naomi Long’s constituency office manager. How did your political career start? I’m known amongst friends as the ‘reluctant politician’ because I did not plan to work in politics. I studied nutrition at university...[full story]
Political Platform: Jim Shannon MP
Monday, October 10th, 2011Strangford MP Jim Shannon was elected to Parliament in May 2010. He previously represented the constituency as an MLA (1998-2010) and in the Northern Ireland Forum (1996-1998), and was an Ards borough councillor for the Peninsula area (1985-2010). A former butcher, Jim is the DUP’s Westminster spokesman on health and transport. He is married to Sandra with three sons, and lives on the family farm outside Greyabbey. Briefly sum up your first year as MP. This year has been a year of change and on my first couple of journeys to Westminster I felt slightly like a school boy in his first...[full story]
Political Platform: Jo-Anne Dobson MLA
Friday, September 2nd, 2011Jo-Anne Dobson was elected as a UUP MLA for Upper Bann in May. A Craigavon Borough Council councillor for Lurgan since January 2010, she is standing down to avoid double-jobbing. Jo-Anne is the party’s agriculture and rural development spokeswoman. She lives on the family farm in Waringstown with her husband John and two sons, Elliott and Mark. Her previous job was managing MEP Jim Nicholson’s Belfast office and her committee memberships are agriculture and education. Where does your interest in politics come from? My mother, Joanie, sowed the first seeds of my interest in politics...[full story]
Political Platform: Ian Paisley MP
Monday, June 6th, 2011North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Junior was elected to Parliament last May, where he is the DUP’s spokesman on environment, food and rural affairs, and work and pensions. He sat at Stormont from 1998 to June 2010 and was an OFMDFM junior minister (2007-2008). Here, he looks back on his first year at Westminster and says the Assembly needs mature debating to make it more relevant. Briefly sum up your first year as MP. It’s been a very pleasing first year as a Member of Parliament. I was one of over 230 new MPs to be elected and with one of the most comfortable majorities after what many...[full story]
Political Platform: Jim Nicholson MEP
Friday, April 15th, 2011Conservative and Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson was elected in 1989 and has previously served as a UUP Assembly member (1982-1986) and a councillor in Armagh (1977-1997). He was also elected as the first MP for Newry and Armagh in 1983 but lost the seat in 1986 in a by-election called in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. He sits on the Parliament’s Agriculture and Environment Committees. Jim is a native of Armagh and is married to Elizabeth, with six sons and one daughter. How did you get involved in politics? I became involved in full-time politics when I received a phone call from...[full story]
Political Platform: Tom Buchanan MLA
Thursday, March 10th, 2011West Tyrone DUP MLA Tom Buchanan is a member of the Environment Committee and the Justice Committee. He was elected to the Assembly in 2003 and has been a councillor for Omagh’s West Tyrone district electoral area since 1993. Married with one son, Tom was a contractor and specialised in stone work before going into politics. What do you want to achieve for West Tyrone? I want to make West Tyrone one of the most attractive areas to work and live, not just within Northern Ireland but the UK as a whole. As a party we have wanted to ensure that the people of West Tyrone have access to...[full story]
Political Platform: Danny Kinahan MLA
Friday, January 28th, 2011South Antrim UUP MLA Danny Kinahan has had a varied career in the army, farming and at Short Brothers prior to entering politics. He lives in Castle Upton in Templepatrick, a former medieval fort, chapel and Scottish baronial castle, which now houses an art gallery. He was elected to Antrim Borough Council in 2005 and stood for the Assembly in 2007. When David Burnside relinquished his seat in June 2009, Danny replaced him. He sits on the OFMFDM Committee, and is the Ulster Unionist Party’s environment spokesman. How did you become involved in politics? As the son of an Ulster Unionist,...[full story]
Political Platform: Sean Neeson MLA
Friday, December 3rd, 2010Following a 33-year political career, Alliance’s Sean Neeson has decided not to stand in the next Assembly elections. The East Antrim MLA and former party leader currently sits on the Enterprise Committee and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, part of the Council of Europe. He is a councillor for Carrick Castle on Carrickfergus Borough Concil. Please explain your transition from teaching and marketing to politics. I was a teacher at St Comgall’s College in Larne for 15 years and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. I mainly taught history and became head of the history...[full story]
Political Platform: Francie Molloy MLA
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010Mid Ulster Sinn Féin MLA Francie Molloy is a Deputy Speaker in the Assembly, a member of the Agriculture Committee and sits on the Committee of the Regions. He was elected to Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council in 1985 and to the Assembly in 1998. Married with four children and eight grandchildren, Francie was a welding engineer before taking up politics. How did you get involved in politics? I first got involved in politics through the Republican Clubs. My family home had always been a debating chamber and world politics were always discussed whenever two or more were in the...[full story]
Political Platform: Roy Beggs MLA
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010Roy Beggs was elected as an Ulster Unionist MLA for East Antrim in 1998. In 2001 he was elected to Carrickfergus Borough Council, representing the Knockagh Monument area. A former production manager, he sits on the Assembly’s Environment Committee and is the Deputy Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. He is Chairman of the All Party Group for the Community and Voluntary Sector. Roy is married with three children. How did you get started in politics? My dad was elected as a local councillor when I was still at primary school, and so throughout my early years I followed his...[full story]
