Nelson McCausland

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Nelson McCausland, MLA
Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure
In office
1 July 2009[1] – 5 May 2011
Preceded by Gregory Campbell
Succeeded by Carál Ní Chuilín
Member of the Northern Irish Assembly
for North Belfast
Incumbent
Assumed office
2003
Preceded by Fraser Agnew
Personal details
Born 15 August 1951 (1951-08-15) (age 60)
Northern Ireland
Political party Democratic Unionist Party
Religion Protestant
Other organizations Orange Order member
Website DUP website
Nelson McCausland (right), Orange Parade, Belfast, 12 July 2011

Nelson McCausland, MLA is a unionist politician from Northern Ireland. He is the current Minister (MLA) for Social Development in the Northern Irish Government.

Contents

[edit] Education

He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy, Worcester College, Oxford and Queen's University, Belfast. He is a former teacher and a member of the Belfast Education and Library Board.

[edit] Career

McCausland made his political debut in the 1982 Assembly elections, standing in North Belfast for the United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP), when he was eliminated early on in the count. He appears to have quit the UUUP before the party was formally disbanded in May 1984 as he ran as an Independent Unionist in a by-election to Belfast Area H in February 1984,[2] but polled only 9% of the vote. He stood again the following year for the Oldpark area in the local government elections,[3] but managed only 5% of the vote. He finally succeeded in gaining election for the Castle area in 1989, taking the seat of Alfie Redpath, the by-election victor of five years before.[3] Around this time McCausland briefly served as a member of the Ulster Independence Committee.[4]

He was re-elected in 1993 as an Independent Unionist but announced the week after the election that he would join the Ulster Unionist Party and became the High Sheriff of Belfast in 1997.[5] He was a candidate for the UUP in the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections, but was placed third on the UUP list, effectively giving him no chance of election. He attempted to dislodge Cecil Walker as North Belfast MP during the 1990s[6] Disenchanted with the UUP under David Trimble, whom he had supported for the leadership, he defected to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2001 and was re-elected as a local councillor for the Oldpark area in 2001 and 2005. McCausland represented the Council on the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Community Relations Council.[7] He stepped down as a councillor in November 2010.[5]

He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2003. He has been suspended twice from the Assembly for unparliamentary language[8] in respect of allegations of PIRA membership made against Gerry Adams.

In June 2009, he was appointed Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, and it was in his capacity as Minister of state that in May 2010, he wrote to the Ulster Museum requesting that it display a range of Creationist and other anti-Evolution material, claiming that it was the Museum's job to "reflect the views of all the people in Northern Ireland" rather than to reflect the understanding of modern science. In response to McCausland's letter, the prominent evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, said "If the museum was to go down that road then perhaps they should bring in the stork theory of where babies come from. Or perhaps the museum should introduce the flat earth theory".[9]

In 2011, he was appointed as Minister for Social Development.[10]

[edit] Affiliations

He was Director of The Ulster-Scots Heritage Council from 1997 until his election to the Assembly in 2003, when he was succeeded by his party and Council colleague William Humphrey. McCausland served as DUP spokesman and Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.[11]

He is a member of Cross of Saint Patrick LOL 688. McCausland served as the Northern Ireland Secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society from 1983-93.[12] He has been described as a "Protestant fundamentalist".[13] Further, McCausland is of the belief that Ulster Protestants descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel.[14]

[edit] Works

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/minister.htm
  2. ^ The Belfast Telegraph, 27 February 1984 article
  3. ^ a b Local Government Elections 1985-1989 - Belfast
  4. ^ Sean McPhilemy, The Committee - Political Assassination in Northern Ireland, Boulder CO: Roberts Rhinehart, 1998, p. 245
  5. ^ a b McCausland steps down as city councillor UTV, 1 November 2010
  6. ^ The Telegraph, op cit
  7. ^ Strategem website
  8. ^ reportage on McCausland
  9. ^ Northern Ireland minister calls on Ulster Museum to promote creationism, McDonald, Henry (2010-05-26), The Guardian 
  10. ^ DUP's Edwin Poots to be health minister
  11. ^ McCausland holds Gaeltacht talks BBC News, 9 July 2009
  12. ^ Culture Minister Nelson McCausland on gays and the GAA Belfast Telegraph, 1 September 2009
  13. ^ Obituary for Sir Cecil Walker, The Telegraph, 2007-01-05 
  14. ^ McDonald, Henry (26 May 2010). "Northern Ireland minister calls on Ulster Museum to promote creationism". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/26/northern-ireland-ulster-museum-creationism. 

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Steve McBride		 High Sheriff of Belfast
1997–1998		 Succeeded by
Jim Clarke
Preceded by
Gregory Campbell		 Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure
2009–2011		 Succeeded by
Carál Ní Chuilín
Preceded by
Alex Attwood		 Minister for Social Development
2011–		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by
Fraser Agnew		 MLA for Belfast North
2003 -		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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