Margaret Elizabeth Rosemary Barton (born 26 July 1957) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician from Northern Ireland. She is a native of County Fermanagh and worked as a secondary schoolteacher in Kesh before being elected as a UUP councillor for Fermanagh District Council, and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2016 to 2022.

Career

Barton was a schoolteacher at

Devenish College Devenish College is a secondary school located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It lies within the Western Education Authority area. Construction has now, however, started on the new build, due to be completed by November ...

. During that time, she taught the future

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland natio ...

player Kyle Lafferty.

Political career

Before being elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Barton was elected as a councillor for Fermanagh District Council and later Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. Barton was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016 as the third woman elected to represent Fermanagh and South Tyrone alongside the First Minister of Northern Ireland

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021 and ...

and

Michelle Gildernew Michelle Gildernew (born 28 March 1970) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, having been re-elected in June 2017 after previously holdin ...

. Her election as an MLA meant that she was forced to vacate her seat on the District Council. Barton joined cross-community calls for an independent inquiry headed by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland into the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. Barton retained her seat in the 2017 election after Fermanagh and South Tyrone lost one seat, in common with all other constituencies, after the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 which led 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 ...

's Lord Morrow missing out. She would become the UUP's education spokesperson in the Assembly. During the 2018 Gaelic football season, Barton suggested

Fermanagh GAA The Fermanagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae Fear Manach) or Fermanagh GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland and is responsible for the administration of Gae ...

fans who "continually talk about the GAA team" in workplaces made unionist colleagues "apprehensive" and "uncomfortable" and amounted to "latent intimidation". She lost her seat in the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election 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 ...

to her running mate, the former UUP leader,

Tom Elliott Thomas or Tom Elliott may refer to: * Thomas Elliott (footballer) (1890–?), English footballer * Thomas Elliott (Australian cricketer) (1879–1939), Australian cricketer * Thomas Elliott (New Zealand cricketer) (1867–?), New Zealand cricketer ...

. In November 2022 Barton was co-opted to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to fill a vacant UUP seat.

Personal life

After having qualified as a teacher, Barton joined the

Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster The Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) was founded in 1929 by W.S. Armour in Limavady, Northern Ireland. Since its creation, YFCU has grown into an association of 52 local self-governing and youth-led clubs, with a headquarters in Belfast. ...

in 1980 and met her future husband there. They married in 1984 in the Church of Ireland church in

Clones, County Monaghan Clones ( ; , meaning 'meadow of Eois') is a small town in western County Monaghan, Ireland. The area is part of the Border Region, earmarked for economic development by the Irish Government due to its currently below-average economic situation ...

, Republic of Ireland. Barton expressed surprise when she was informed by the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'' that Wikipedia had cited her age incorrectly in 2017.

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly profileUlster Unionist Party profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Rosemary 1957 births Living people Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Place of birth missing (living people) Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Educators from Northern Ireland Anglicans from Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party councillors