Botanic (District Electoral Area)

Botanic
Belfast City Council DEA constituency
Botanic DEA marked on a map of Belfast City Council and its wards
Current constituency
Created	2014
Seats	5 (2014–)
Councillors	Áine Groogan (GPNI)   Tracy Kelly (DUP)   Emmet McDonough-Brown (APNI)   Conor McKay (SF)   Gary McKeown (SDLP)

Botanic is one of the ten district electoral areas (DEA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ^[1] The district elects five members to Belfast City Council and contains the wards of Blackstaff; Central; Ormeau; Stranmillis, and Windsor. ^[2] Botanic, along with neighbouring Balmoral, forms the greater part of the Belfast South constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament. It covers large parts of the centre and southern parts of the city.

It was created for the 2014 local elections, largely replacing the Laganbank DEA, which had existed since 1985. The DEA is named after Belfast's Botanic Gardens.

Education

Botanic is the location for several of the city's most important education establishments, including Queen's University Belfast, Stranmillis University College and Union Theological College. The location of these institutions in close proximity saw the area's popularity among students increase, particularly in the Holyland area.

The area is also home to some of the most prominent schools, including Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School and the academically less demanding schools, Methodist College Belfast and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Culture

Botanic Gardens

The portion of Botanic to the west of the River Lagan, based around Queen's University, forms the Queen's Quarter, and contains many of the key cultural facilities within the city. The Quarter is home the Brian Friel Theatre, the Crescent Arts Centre, the Elmwood Hall, the Lyric Theatre, the Naughton Gallery at Queen's, the Queen's Film Theatre and the Ulster Museum.

As well as the Queen's Quarter, there are a number of important cultural attractions within the wider DEA section of the city centre, including the Grand Opera House, the Linen Hall Library, the Ulster Hall, the Ulster Orchestra and the Waterfront Hall.

Other amenities

Other noteworthy amenities in the Botanic district electoral area include:

• Belfast Grand Central, Botanic, Belfast Lanyon Place and City Hospital railway stations
• Belfast City Hall
• Belfast City Hospital
• Broadcasting House (BBC Northern Ireland)
• Crown Liquor Saloon
• Europa Hotel
• Queen's University Belfast Students' Union
• Royal Courts of Justice
• St George's Market
• St Malachy's Church
• Victoria Square Shopping Centre

Councillors

Election	Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)
February 2024 Co-Option		Conor McKay (Sinn Féin)		Gary McKeown (SDLP)		Emmet McDonough-Brown (Alliance)		Áine Groogan (Green Party)		Tracy Kelly (DUP)
2023		John Gormley (Sinn Féin)
January 2020 Co-Option
2019		Deirdre Hargey (Sinn Féin)
June 2017 Defection				Declan Boyle (SDLP)/ (Independent)				Ruth Patterson (DUP)/ (Independent)		Graham Craig (DUP)/ (UUP)
October 2016 Defection
November 2015 Defection
2014

2023 Results

2019: 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Green, 1 x SDLP

2023: 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Green

2019–2023 Change: No change

Botanic - 5 seats ^[3]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SDLP	Gary McKeown*	17.76%	1,881
	DUP	Tracy Kelly*	12.95%	1,372	1,372.42	1,382.48	1,525.54	1,529.54	1,717.90	2,342.90
	Alliance	Emmet McDonough-Brown*	10.25%	1,086	1,118.94	1,144.48	1,150.48	1,182.02	1,263.56	1,275.62	1,298.62	1,951.62
	Sinn Féin	John Gormley* †	14.47%	1,533	1,543.80	1,560.22	1,562.22	1,584.28	1,587.34	1,588.46	1,591.46	1,602.18
	Green (NI)	Áine Groogan*	9.50%	1,006	1,023.88	1,080.66	1,089.72	1,299.68	1,343.16	1,355.16	1,394.16	1,544.34
	Sinn Féin	Emma-Jane Faulkner	9.89%	1,048	1,061.08	1,081.44	1,087.50	1,127.86	1,132.92	1,135.92	1,135.92	1,157.06
	Alliance	Chris Ogle	6.87%	728	754.76	768.42	772.42	821.90	880.44	895.50	912.50
	DUP	Darren Leighton	6.13%	649	649.24	656.30	708.30	709.36	765.36
	UUP	Jeffrey Dudgeon	3.59%	380	381.98	399.16	477.28	484.34
	People Before Profit	Sipho Sibanda	2.91%	308	310.58	406.88	408.88
	TUV	Billy Dickson	2.95%	312	312.30	316.36
	Socialist Party	Neil Moore	1.41%	149	150.68
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	0.84%	89	90.62
	NI Conservatives	Idris Maiga	0.49%	52	52.66
Electorate: 23,049  Valid: 10,593 (45.96%)  Spoilt: 162  Quota: 1,766  Turnout: 10,755 (46.66%)

2019 Results

2014: 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP

2019: 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Green

2014-2019 Change: Green gain from UUP

Botanic - 5 seats ^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Green (NI)	Áine Groogan	14.39%	1,401	1,419	1,423	1,436	1,447	1,632
	DUP	Tracy Kelly	14.02%	1,365	1,389	1,498	1,498	1,579	1,582	1,665
	Sinn Féin	Deirdre Hargey * †	13.61%	1,325	1,332	1,332	1,510	1,512	1,556	1,558	1,639
	Alliance	Emmet McDonough-Brown*	11.74%	1,143	1,155	1,158	1,167	1,170	1,232	1,301	1,432	1,433.77	1,437.68	2,118.68
	SDLP	Gary McKeown	10.36%	1,009	1,020	1,021	1,039	1,042	1,091	1,119	1,363	1,363	1,372.2	1,500.12
	DUP	Graham Craig*	6.32%	615	633	653	653	700	702	829	878	916.35	916.58	931.17
	Alliance	Micky Murray	7.74%	754	755	758	762	765	786	824	902	902.59	903.97
	Independent	Declan Boyle*	6.25%	609	612	613	616	623	634	663
	UUP	Richard Kennedy	3.42%	333	341	363	363	437	445
	People Before Profit	Paul Loughran	3.93%	383	415	418	420	422
	South Belfast Unionists	Billy Dickson	2.39%	233	247	256	256
	Sinn Féin	Caitríona Mallaghan	2.35%	229	229	229
	PUP	Ian Shanks	1.75%	170	178
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	0.89%	87
	TUV	John Hiddleston	0.84%	82
Electorate: 21,987  Valid: 9,738 (44.29%)  Spoilt: 104  Quota: 1,624  Turnout: 9,842 (44.76%)

2014 Results

2014: 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP

Botanic - 5 seats ^[4]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	DUP	Ruth Patterson* ‡–	14.10%	1,268	1,268	1,280	1,282	1,284	1,508
	Alliance	Emmet McDonough-Brown	9.37%	843	850	865	881	925	925	1,011	1,061	1,065	1,706
	Sinn Féin	Deirdre Hargey *	14.74%	1,326	1,343	1,346	1,370	1,377	1,378	1,393	1,479	1,483	1,520
	SDLP	Declan Boyle ‡	10.80%	971	978	983	992	1,007	1,009	1,034	1,344	1,347	1,405	1,473.4
	UUP	Graham Craig ‡	8.52%	766	767	795	798	808	858	897	900	1,333	1,357	1,380.6
	Green (NI)	Clare Bailey	8.58%	772	792	806	860	876	879	973	994	1,010	1,141	1,253.8
	Alliance	Duncan Morrow	8.55%	769	770	775	787	812	815	878	929	939
	TUV	Billy Dickson	5.66%	509	509	516	519	521	579	588	593
	SDLP	Patrick McCarthy*	5.89%	530	545	552	559	565	565	576
	NI21	Eileen Chan-Hu	2.90%	261	264	271	278	398	400
	PUP	Ewan Suttie	3.90%	351	351	353	356	357
	NI21	Ben Matthews	2.59%	233	235	247	254
	Socialist Party	Paddy Meehan	1.82%	164	172	173
	NI Conservatives	Ben Manton	1.39%	125	127
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	1.18%	106
Electorate: 19,462  Valid: 8,994 (46.21%)  Spoilt: 192  Quota: 1,500  Turnout: 9,186 (47.20%)

References

1. Final Northern Ireland super council recommendations, BBC News, 13 December 2013, accessed 24 May 2014
2. Belfast City Council Elections, 2014, ARK, accessed 24 May 2014
3. "Northern Ireland council election: List of all the candidates in the May 2023 poll". Belfast Live. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
4. "Local Council Elections 2014 - Results by Stage". 22 May 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2022.