Danny Kennedy (born 6 July 1959) is a Unionist politician in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, who served as the Chairman of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

(UUP) from December 2019 to May 2022. Kennedy previously served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for

Newry and Armagh Newry and Armagh can refer to: * Newry and Armagh (Assembly constituency) *Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Mickey Brady o ...

from 1998 to 2017. He was formerly deputy leader of the

Assembly Group. He served in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...

as Minister for Regional Development from 2011 to 2015. On 12 May 2016, Kennedy was elected as Deputy Speaker of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

. It was confirmed that he had lost his seat as an MLA for

on 3 March 2017.

Political career

Kennedy has served at all levels, both local and within the wider party organisation of the

, which he joined in 1974. In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

election in

. He ran unsuccessfully for the UUP in the Westminster election in 1997, in which he polled over 18,000 votes against

Seamus Mallon Seamus Frederick Mallon (; 17 August 1936 – 24 January 2020) was an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001 and Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 1979 to 20 ...

. He was elected to the Assembly in 1998. Kennedy was UUP Assembly spokesman for education and chaired the Assembly Committee which both scrutinised and helped frame education legislation between 1998 and 2002. On the restoration of devolution in 2007 he became chairman of the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. His performance in this office garnered him the award for "Best Committee Chair" from the

Slugger O'Toole Slugger O'Toole is a weblog started in June 2002 by political analyst Mick Fealty. It began life as Letter to Slugger O'Toole, focused primarily on news and comment about Northern Ireland. From the beginning it has drawn its readership from a ...

blogsite in 2008. Kennedy did not appeal an employment tribunal decision that found that a Protestant job applicant, Alan Lennon, had been discriminated against by Kennedy's predecessor Conor Murphy. Lennon was awarded £150,000 damages. He contested the constituency of

for the UUP in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and 2015 general elections, finishing fourth, third and second with 13.9%, 19.1% and 32.7% of the vote respectively. Kennedy lost his seat as an MLA in the

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members (Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland), MLAs) following the resignation of First Minister and deputy First Min ...

, which was held on 2 March 2017. Kennedy was the Ulster Unionist Party candidate for

, during the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom; he was not elected. On 23 December 2019, Kennedy was appointed to be the Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, replacing

Reg Empey Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey, (born 26 October 1947), best known as Reg Empey, is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland, who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the ...

. He stood down as UUP Chairman on 21 May 2022.

References

External links

NI Assembly page

UUP Profile
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Danny 1959 births Living people People from Newry British Telecom people Presbyterians from Northern Ireland Councillors in Northern Ireland Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017