Michelle McIlveen
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Michelle McIlveen | |
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Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs | |
In office 25 May 2016 – 2 March 2017 | |
Preceded by | Michelle O'Neill |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Strangford | |
In office 7 March 2007 – 26 January 2017 | |
Preceded by | John Taylor |
Minister for Regional Development | |
In office 21 September 2015[note 1] – 6 May 2016 | |
Preceded by | Danny Kennedy |
Succeeded by | Chris Hazzard |
Personal details | |
Born | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 21 January 1971
Nationality | British |
Political party | Democratic Unionist Party |
Alma mater | Queen's University, Belfast |
Michelle McIlveen, MLA (born 21 January 1971) is a politician from Northern Ireland. She was elected in 2007 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member for Strangford. She served as the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs from 2016 until the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in January 2017.
She is the DUP spokesperson on children and young people. She is also a former councillor on Ards Borough Council, to which she was first elected in 2005. She served as the Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. On 1 September 2015, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) minister Danny Kennedy resigned from the Department for Regional Development after his party's decision to withdraw from the Northern Ireland Executive (due to allegations of the Provisional IRA's continued existence by Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable George Hamilton).[1]
Under Northern Ireland Assembly rules, when a Department Minister resigns, their party has seven working days to replace the minister or the position is given to another party under the D'Hondt method. This then fell to the DUP, who undertook a cycle of ministerial resignations/appointments/resignations to avoid losing their ministries to other parties like the UUP [clarification needed] during the period of time when claims of IRA activity were being made and investigated. The position of Minister for Regional Development lay vacant until 28 September 2015. McIlveen was appointed as minister, with Emma Pengelly replacing her as Junior Minister.[2]
References
- ^ Resigned on 21 September 2015, re-entered office on 23 Sept. till 24 Sept., then 30 Sept.-1 Oct. 2015. Following 20 October she permanently occupies the office
- ^ Kevin McGuigan murder: Provisional IRA still exists, says PSNI chief; accessed 14 May 2016.
- ^ DUP profile, dup.org.uk; accessed 14 May 2016.
- 1971 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
- Councillors in Northern Ireland
- Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999)
- Junior ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly (since 1999)
- Democratic Unionist Party MLAs
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–11
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–16
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–17
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–
- Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly
- People educated at Methodist College Belfast
- Politicians from Belfast
- Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive
- Northern Ireland Assembly member stubs