| 4th Northern Ireland Assembly | |||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||
| Legislative body | Assembly | ||||||||||
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland | ||||||||||
| Meeting place | Parliament Buildings, Stormont | ||||||||||
| Term | 12 May 2011 – 29 March 2016 | ||||||||||
| Election | 2011 assembly election | ||||||||||
| Government | Executive of the 4th Assembly | ||||||||||
| Members | 108 | ||||||||||
| Speaker | Mitchel McLaughlin — William Hay until 13 October 2014 | ||||||||||
| First Minister | Arlene Foster — Peter Robinson until 11 January 2016 — Arlene Foster (Acting) until 20 October 2015 — Peter Robinson until 30 September 2015 | ||||||||||
| Deputy First Minister | Martin McGuinness — John O'Dowd (Acting) until 31 October 2011 — Martin McGuinness until 20 September 2011 | ||||||||||
| Sessions | |||||||||||
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The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011.[1] This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament BuildingsinStormont, and ran for a full term.
The election saw 18 Assembly constituencies return six Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) each. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), led by Peter Robinson, remained the largest unionist party and the largest overall. Sinn Féin, led by Gerry Adams, remained the largest Irish nationalist party and the second largest overall. As per the Belfast Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement, a power-sharing coalition was then formed with the DUP, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. William Hay was elected as Speaker in the first sitting of the Assembly. Following Hay's retirement, Mitchel McLaughlin was elected as the first nationalist Speaker in October 2014.
The UUP, led by Tom Elliott, and the SDLP, led by Margaret Ritchie, secured fewer seats than in the previous assembly. The Alliance Party, led by David Ford, emerged from the election with an increased mandate after securing an additional seat. The four main parties which sat outside of the Northern Ireland Executive and thereby served unofficially in opposition were the Green Party in Northern Ireland, the Traditional Unionist Voice, NI21 and the United Kingdom Independence Party.
More than three quarters of the members of the 3rd Northern Ireland Assembly were re-elected to the 4th: 83 MLAs had been members for all or part of the Assembly's previous term. This included 11 individuals who became MLAs in the previous Assembly by virtue of co-option. Twenty of the MLAs elected in 2011 were women. 25 new MLAs were elected to the Assembly, 23% of the total.
| Party | Designation | May 2011 election |
Jul 2015 end | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ● | Democratic Unionist Party | Unionist | 38 | 38 |
| ● | Sinn Féin | Nationalist | 29 | 28 |
| ● | Ulster Unionist Party[n 1] | Unionist | 16 | 13 |
| ● | Social Democratic and Labour Party | Nationalist | 14 | 14 |
| ● | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | Other | 8 | 8 |
| Green Party in Northern Ireland | Other | 1 | 1 | |
| Traditional Unionist Voice | Unionist | 1 | 1 | |
| Independent | Unionist | 1 | 2 | |
| NI21[n 2] | Unionist | - | 1 | |
| UKIP | Unionist | - | 1 | |
| Speaker[n 3] | None | 0 | 1 | |
| Totals by designation | Unionist | 56 | 56 | |
| Nationalist | 43 | 42 | ||
| Other | 9 | 9 | ||
| None | 0 | 1 | ||
| Total | 108 | |||
| ● = Northern Ireland Executive | ||||
This is not the actual seating plan.
This is a list of MLAs elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, sorted by party.
Not to be confused: Paul Girvan (South Antrim) and Paul Givan (Lagan Valley) are different people, although both were co-opted to replace retiring Democratic Unionist members of the last Assembly. Roy Beggs, Jr. (born 1962) is the son of the Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs (born 1936), a former Assembly member for North Antrim and former MP for East Antrim in the British House of Commons. Similarly Mark H. Durkan (b. 1978) is the nephew of the former SDLP leader Mark Durkan (b. 1960), who left the Assembly after his election in 2010 as MP for Foyle.[2]
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
The list is given in alphabetical order by constituency.
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA ‡ Changed affiliation during the term
Twenty-five members of the third Assembly who were sitting at its dissolution on 24 March 2011 were succeeded by new members after the election of 5 May 2011. Seventeen sitting members did not present themselves for re-election and another eight were defeated at the polls. One re-elected member had been elected with a different affiliation in 2007.
The numbers indicate the percentage of votes each member received in the first round of counting under the Single Transferable Vote in the 2011 election, and the round which decided his or her election or defeat.[3][4]
This is a sortable table arranged alphabetically by the new member's surname. In some constituencies (Foyle, West Tyrone and Fermanagh & South Tyrone) where it is not possible to couple a single outgoing member by party with a single successor, the incoming members are arranged alphabetically (so the second one may be out of alphabetic order with the rest of the table) and the outgoing members are arranged arbitrarily.
| Outgoing member(s) | Party | 1st pref |
Round |
Constituency |
New Member(s) |
Party | 1st pref |
Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Wilson (retiring) | Green Party in N. Ireland | — | — | North Down | Steven Agnew | Green | 7.9% | 11 |
| Declan O'Loan | SDLP | 9.1% | 9 | North Antrim | Jim Allister | Trad. U. Voice | 10.1% | 9 |
| Claire McGill (retiring) | Sinn Féin | — | — | West Tyrone | Michaela Boyle | Sinn Féin | 12.9% | 4 |
| Fred Cobain | Ulster Unionist | 8.2% | 7 | Belfast North | Paula Bradley | DUP | 10.4% | 6 |
| Allan Bresland Kieran Deeny (retiring) |
Democratic Unionist Independent |
10.3% — |
0 — |
West Tyrone | Joe Byrne Ross Hussey |
SDLP UUP |
8.5% 10.4% |
5 |
| Dawn Purvis | Ind. (elected as Prog. U.) | 5.3% | 11 | Belfast East | Judith Cochrane | Alliance | 13.4% | 7 |
| Reg Empey (retiring) Lord Empey |
Ulster Unionist | — | — | Belfast East | Michael Copeland | UUP | 6.8% | 11 |
| Seán Neeson (retiring) | Alliance | — | — | East Antrim | Stewart Dickson | Alliance | 10.0% | 9 |
| George Savage (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | Upper Bann | Jo-Anne Dobson | UUP | 7.9% | 7 |
| Wallace Browne (retiring) Baron Browne of Belmont |
Democratic Unionist | — | — | Belfast East | Sammy Douglas | DUP | 8.3% | 11 |
| Alan McFarland | Ind. (elected as UUP) | 6.7% | 9 | North Down | Gordon Dunne | DUP | 13.3% | 2 |
| Pól Callaghan [replaced Mark Durkan, MP] Mary Bradley (retiring) |
SDLP | 6.8% — |
4 — |
Foyle | Mark H. Durkan Colum Eastwood |
SDLP | 12.8% 7.6% |
4 7 |
| Tommy Gallagher | SDLP |
9.6% | 6 | Fermanagh & South Tyrone |
Phil Flanagan | Sinn Féin | 10.6% | 6 |
| Gerry McHugh (retiring) | Ind. (elected as SF) | — | — | Fermanagh & South Tyrone |
Seán Lynch | Sinn Féin | 10.7% | 6 |
| Paul Butler (retiring) | Sinn Féin | — | — | Lagan Valley | Brenda Hale | DUP | 8.2% | 7 |
| Thomas Burns | SDLP | 10.6% | 0 | South Antrim | Pam Lewis | DUP | 8.9% | 4 |
| Ian Paisley, PC (retiring) Lord Bannside |
Democratic Unionist | — | — | North Antrim | David McIlveen | DUP | 8.1% | 8 |
| P.J. Bradley (retiring) | SDLP | — | — | South Down | Karen McKevitt | SDLP | 9.0% | 9 |
| Ken Robinson (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | East Antrim | Oliver McMullan | Sinn Féin | 8.2% | 10 |
| Simpson Gibson (retiring) [replaced Jim Shannon] |
Democratic Unionist | — | — | Strangford | Mike Nesbitt | UUP | 11.0% | 6 |
| Billy Leonard (retiring) [replaced Francie Brolly] |
Sinn Féin (suspended) | — | — | East Londonderry | Cathal Ó hOisín | Sinn Féin | 13.5% | 6 |
| Billy Armstrong (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | Mid Ulster | Sandra Overend | UUP | 10.3% | 6 |
| Robert Coulter (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | North Antrim | Robin Swann | UUP | 6.2% | 9 |
David McClarty, originally elected from East Londonderry as an Ulster Unionist, although not re-nominated by the UUP in 2011, stood successfully for re-election as an independent. This reduced the UUP's strength from 2007, while keeping independent strength in the Assembly at one (asKieran Deeny, the retiring independent member, was not succeeded in West Tyrone by another independent). McClarty decided not to re-join the UUP after his re-election.[5][6]
| Date | Constituency | Name | Previous affiliation | New affiliation | Circumstance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 May 2011 | Foyle | William Hay | DUP | Speaker | William Hay elected Speaker of the Assembly at its first sitting. | ||
| 27 January 2012 | Strangford | David McNarry | UUP | Ind. Unionist | David McNarry suspended from the UUP for nine months after an investigation by the party. | ||
| 4 October 2012 | Strangford | David McNarry | Ind. Unionist | UKIP | David McNarry joined UKIP becoming the party's first Northern Ireland MLA. | ||
| 14 February 2013 | South Down | John McCallister | UUP | Ind. Unionist | John McCallister resigned from the UUP after it formed an electoral pact with the DUP. | ||
| 15 February 2013 | Lagan Valley | Basil McCrea | UUP | Ind. Unionist | Basil McCrea resigned from the UUP after it formed an electoral pact with the DUP. | ||
| 6 June 2013 | South Down | John McCallister | Ind. Unionist | NI21 | John McCallister along with McCrea established a new political party. | ||
| 6 June 2013 | Lagan Valley | Basil McCrea | Ind. Unionist | NI21 | Basil McCrea along with McCallister established a new political party. | ||
| 3 July 2014 | South Down | John McCallister | NI21 | Ind. Unionist | John McCallister resigns from NI21 over differences with the party leadership regarding an investigation into sexual wrongdoing by party leader, Basil McCrea.[22] | ||
| 12 January 2015 | South Antrim | Mitchel McLaughlin | Sinn Féin | Speaker | Mitchel McLaughlin elected Speaker of the Assembly following the retirement of William Hay. | ||
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Elected representatives in Northern Ireland
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| House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1922–1973 |
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| Assemblies etc pre-1998 |
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| Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998 |
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| House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1922 |
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| Assembly |
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| Constituencies |
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| Parties | Current: | |
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| Members |
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| Procedure |
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