Norah Beare (born 25 May 1946,
Banbridge
Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road (Northern Ireland), A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the Civil parishes in Ireland, c ...
,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
) is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who served as a
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
About
The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...
(MLA) for
Lagan Valley
The Lagan Valley (, Ulster Scots: ''Glen Lagan'') is an area of Northern Ireland between Belfast and Lisburn. The River Lagan rises on Slieve Croob in County Down and flows generally northward discharging into Belfast Lough. For a section, the ...
from 2003 to 2007.
She was elected as an
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) candidate in the
Assembly election of 2003; however, she defected to the
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, 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. Currently led by J ...
(DUP) in 2004 along with
Jeffrey Donaldson
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...
MP, MLA for Lagan Valley and
Arlene Foster, MLA for
Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
Norah Beare worked for forty years as a secretary in a number of different companies and then became in 1997 the Personal Assistant to
Jeffrey Donaldson
Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leader ...
. Beare was elected to the
Banbridge, County Down council in 2001 as a UUP candidate. On Donaldson's advice she was selected as the third UUP candidate for the November
2003 Northern Ireland Assembly elections.
In December 2003 she resigned, with Donaldson and
Arlene Foster, from the UUP and subsequently joined the DUP in January 2004. In 2005 she was re-elected to the council as a DUP politician. In January 2007, Beare was not selected by the Lagan Valley DUP association to fight the next Northern Ireland Assembly elections due in early March 2007.
Beare was elected chairman of Banbridge District Council in 2008.
She is DUP Party Spokesperson for Health and Social Services.
References
1946 births
Living people
Members of Banbridge District Council
Democratic Unionist Party councillors
Ulster Unionist Party councillors
People from Banbridge
Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Ulster Unionist Party MLAs
Democratic Unionist Party MLAs
Women councillors in Northern Ireland
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