Chris Hazzard (born 20 August 1984) is an Irish politician from

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

who has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for South Down since the 2017 United Kingdom general election, when he defeated incumbent Margaret Ritchie of the

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 ...

. Due to Sinn Féin's policy of

abstentionism Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...

with regard to the

Westminster Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

, Hazzard has not taken his seat.

Early life

Hazzard was born in

Drumaness Drumaness (formerly Drumanessy; ) is a class village and townland (of 761 acres) in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is 3 miles or 5 kilometres south of Ballynahinch, which is not really far en ...

, County Down, in 1984. The eldest of four siblings, he attended Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Knock, before going to Queen's University Belfast.

Political career

Hazzard previously worked as a press officer for

. He was selected by his party as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

(MLA) of the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent the South Down constituency in April 2012. He replaced his party colleague Willie Clarke, who had retired to concentrate on his local council work. Hazzard was the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland from May 2016 until the Executive's collapse in January 2017. He was also a member of the Education Committee from 2012 to 2016 and the Public Accounts Committee from 2013 to 2014. At the snap general election held on 8 June 2017, he was elected as the MP for South Down, defeating the incumbent

SDLP 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 Irela ...

MP, Margaret Ritchie. It is the first time that his party have represented the seat.

Personal life

Hazzard is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

member and PhD candidate at Queen's University Belfast. He was, at the time of his selection, the youngest MLA. He is married to Lisa, and the couple have a daughter, Eva, who was born in August 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazzard, Chris Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Down constituencies (since 1922) Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 People educated at Our Lady and St. Patrick's College, Knock People from County Down Sinn Féin MLAs Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 1984 births Alumni of Queen's University Belfast