Eileen Bell CBE (born 15 August 1943) is an Alliance Party politician from

Dromara Dromara ()Placenames NI
is a village,

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

. She was a member of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = S ...

(MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2007, and is a former deputy leader of the Alliance Party.

Early life

Bell was born in

Dromara Dromara ()Placenames NI
is a village,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. She was educated at the Dominican College, Belfast and the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

. She held a number of jobs including working in the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and later as Welfare Officer for the Community of the Peace People.

Political career

In 1986 she became General Secretary of the Alliance Party. Later in 1993 she won election to

North Down Borough Council North Down Borough Council was a Local Council in County Down in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ards Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become North Down and Ards District Council. Its m ...

. She was later elected as one of two "top-up" members of the 1996

Northern Ireland Peace 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 ...

and in the

1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary consti ...

s won a seat in North Down. In June 2001 Bell was appointed Deputy Leader of the Alliance by

Seán Neeson Seán Neeson (born 9 February 1946) is a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2001, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 20 ...

, following the resignation of

Seamus Close Seamus Anthony Close OBE (12 August 1947 – 7 May 2019) was a Northern Irish politician, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley and a deputy leader of the Alliance Party. In August 1981, he was the Alliance candidate for ...

over disagreements on the party's direction. However Neeson himself soon resigned and Bell stood for the leadership as a traditionalist bridge-building candidate, against David Ford who was on the more consciously Liberal, internationalist wing of the party. At the Party's council Bell received 45 votes to Ford's 86 and she remained as the party's deputy leader. In the 2003 Assembly elections she retained her seat. On 10 December 2005 it was announced that Bell would stand down as Deputy Leader of the party and not contest the next Assembly elections.Gay row 'difficult' for Alliance
BBC News, 10 December 2005 Bell acted as the Speaker of the Assembly established by the Northern Ireland Act 2006 and of the Transitional Assembly established by the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006. On 8 May 2006 she was appointed Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly (which had been suspended since 2002) only to be replaced that same day by William Hay.

Post Political career

After leaving political life Eileen Bell turned to a charity she had long supported and became vice president and Legislative Advisor t
Autism NI
She has been one of the driving forces behind a Lobby for a

in Northern Ireland. She was also the Chairperson of Downtown Women's Group which managed the Women into Politics Project. She stayed on as a Board member of the group until it wound down in 2015.

Honours

She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Eileen 1943 births Living people People from County Down Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Alumni of Ulster University Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Alliance Party of Northern Ireland MLAs Speakers of the Northern Ireland Assembly 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Alliance Party of Northern Ireland councillors Members of North Down Borough Council Women councillors in Northern Ireland