Michelle McIlveen

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.

Michelle McIlveen

Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
In office
25 May 2016  2 March 2017
Preceded byMichelle O'Neill
Succeeded byEdwin Poots
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Strangford
Assumed office
7 March 2007
Preceded byJohn Taylor
Minister for Regional Development
In office
21 September 2015[note 1]  6 May 2016
Preceded byDanny Kennedy
Succeeded byChris Hazzard
Personal details
Born (1971-01-21) 21 January 1971
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyDemocratic Unionist Party
Alma materQueen's University, Belfast

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 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

  1. 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
  1. Kevin McGuigan murder: Provisional IRA still exists, says PSNI chief; accessed 14 May 2016.
  2. DUP profile, dup.org.uk; accessed 14 May 2016.
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by
John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney
MLA for Strangford
2007–present
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Nigel Dodds
Party Secretary of the Democratic Unionist Party
2008–present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Jonathan Bell
Junior Minister
2015
Succeeded by
Emma Pengelly
Preceded by
Danny Kennedy
Minister for Regional Development
2015–2016
Succeeded by
Chris Hazzard
as Minister for Infrastructure
Preceded by
Michelle O'Neill
Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
2016–2017
Vacant
Office suspended


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