Sean Nial Farren (born 6 September 1939) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and academic 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 North Antrim from 1998 to 2007.

Academic Career

Farren studied at the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called ''university college, constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under t ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

(BA), University of Essex (MA) and the University of Ulster (PhD). He worked as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

before becoming a lecturer at the University of Ulster. Since 2008 he has been a Visiting Professor in the School of Education at Ulster University. He has also been involved in a number of projects aimed at strengthening democratic institutions in the Middle East, North Africa, West and East Africa. He is currently a member of the Governing Authority of

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

, a Trustee of

Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation 50 years ago it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's ...

(UK), a member of the Standing Committee of the Development Studies Association of Ireland (DSAI) and a committee member of the Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (SLIP).

Political Career

Farren contested the Westminster seat of North Antrim as a member of the

(SDLP) at the 1979 general election, and stood at each subsequent general election until 2005. In 1982, Farren 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 ...

in North Antrim. In line with SDLP policy, he instead sat on the New Ireland Forum (1983–4). Farren was elected to 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 ...

in 1996, again for North Antrim, and held this seat in the

in 1998 and 2003, before standing down at the 2007 election.

Personal

He is married to Patricia Clarke. They have four children. He and Patricia live in Portstewart,

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Publications

He has authored, co-authored or edited four books: * ''The Politics of Irish Education'' (1995) * ''SDLP – the Struggle for Agreement in Northern Ireland'' (2010), with Robert Mulvihill * ''Paths to a Settlement in Northern Ireland'' (2000) * ''John Hume: Irish Peacemaker'' (2015) with Denis Haughey. He has written many book chapters, peer reviewed and other articles. He also wrote the paper '' Sunningdale: An Agreement Too Soon?'''','' in which the circumstances behind the agreement and the elements that caused its collapse are examined.

References

Northern Ireland Executive: Sean Farren Biography
* Sunningdale: An Agreement too soon? {{DEFAULTSORT:Farren, Sean 1939 births Living people Academics of Ulster University Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the University of Essex Alumni of Ulster University Alumni of the National University of Ireland Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) People from Portstewart Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Ministers of Finance and Personnel of Northern Ireland