Pat Catney (born 11 November 1954) is an Irish

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) politician and former publican who was 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 2017 to 2022.

Early life

Catney was born in 1954 to Eileen (née McDonald, died in 2020) and James Catney, who ran the Kitchen Bar in Belfast, having previously run the Liverpool Bar on Donegall Quay. Before entering politics, Catney ran the Kitchen Bar, and was involved in the running of the parish centre at St Patrick's Church in

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

Political career

He was elected to

Lisburn City Council Lisburn City Council was the local authority for an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. As of May 2015 it was merged with Castlereagh Borough Council as part of the reform of local government in Northern ...

in 2011, and served as a councillor until he was elected to 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 ...

for the

constituency in the March 2017 election. He currently serves as the SDLP spokesperson for Small Business and Innovation. Catney's office was picketed by Britain First supporters in 2018, for which the motive was unclear. Catney responded by saying "Such actions didn’t deter me then, and Saturday’s empty protest by this group will not deter me now," adding that "Lisburn is a city for all, Catholic, Protestant and dissenter – any message that undermines the good relations of this great city is not welcome." In 2020, Catney put forward legislation in the Assembly to make period products available for free in all schools, colleges and public buildings, to combat period poverty. The bill was passed into law in March 2022. He lost his seat in the May 2022 Assembly election, with the Alliance Party's David Honeyford taking the seat in the seventh count. Catney announced he would be standing in the 2023 Northern Ireland local elections.

Personal life

Catney married his wife Rosemary in 1982, and the couple have four children.

References

External links

SDLP profile
Living people Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Place of birth missing (living people) 1954 births {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub