The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson,who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson is a British former politician,who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2021 to 2024,and leader of the DUP in the UK House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley from 1997 to 2024.
James Hugh Allister is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster,Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim,having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
Dame Arlene Isobel Foster,Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee,,is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021 and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2015 to 2021. Foster was the first woman to hold either position. She is a Member of the House of Lords,having previously been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2003 to 2021.
Edwin Poots is a British politician from Northern Ireland,serving as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since February 2024. He served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from May to June 2021. He was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1998.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Northern Ireland enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBT people. However,the advancement of LGBT rights has traditionally been slower than the rest of the United Kingdom,with the region having lagged behind England,Scotland,and Wales. Northern Ireland was the last part of the United Kingdom where same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised,the last to implement a blood donation “monogamous no waiting period”policy system for men who have sex with men and,after intervention by the Parliament of the United Kingdom,the last to allow same-sex marriage. Compared to the neighbouring Republic of Ireland,all major LGBT rights milestones had been reached earlier in Northern Ireland,with the exception of same-sex marriage. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Northern Ireland a decade earlier and civil partnerships were introduced six years earlier.
Paul Jonathan Givan is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),he has served as Minister of Education since 3 February 2024. Givan has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley since 2010.
The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday,5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election. Turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 703,744 (54.9%),a decline of less than one percentage point from the previous Assembly Election in 2011,but down 15 percentage points from the first election to the Assembly held in 1998.
Gordon Dunne was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 2011 until June 2021.
The Caleb Foundation,created in 1998,is a creationist pressure group in Northern Ireland. It also lobbies on a range of social policy issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage from an evangelical Protestant perspective,and has been particularly influential with Democratic Unionist Party ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. The organisation has described its mission as "promoting the fundamentals of the historic evangelical Protestant faith".
Jamie Bryson is a Northern Irish loyalist activist who originally attracted media attention as a leading figure in the Belfast City Hall flag protests. He is the author of four books and is the editor of Unionist Voice,a monthly unionist newsletter and online site. He also runs a consultancy business focusing on loyalist public relations,legal work and advocacy.
The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday,2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members (MLAs) following the resignation of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. McGuinness' position was not filled,and thus by law his resignation triggered an election.
Mary Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician serving as the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since May 2022,when she was co-opted (appointed) to replace then-DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson,who declined to take up his seat following the 2022 election.
Christopher David Matthew Stalford was a Northern Irish politician who was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from the 2016 election until his death in 2022.
Clare Bailey is a Northern Irish activist and former politician who was the Leader of Green Party Northern Ireland from November 2018 to August 2022,having been deputy leader of the party from 2014 to 2017. Bailey was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 2016 to 2022.
Harold McKee is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was a Newry Mourne and Down Councillor for The Mournes DEA from 2014 to 2016,and then again from 2019 until 2023.
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister,Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
This is a list of the 90 members of the sixth Northern Ireland Assembly,the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. The election took place on 2 March 2017,with counting finishing the following day;voter turnout was estimated at 64.8%.
The May 2021 Democratic Unionist Party leadership election was triggered by Arlene Foster's resignation from leadership. It was the Democratic Unionist Party's first leadership election since the party's founding in 1971.
