Inge Ryan
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Inge Ryan (born 15 August 1956 in Overhalla) is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. From 2009 to 2017, he was County Governor of Nord-Trøndelag. Ryan was mayor of Namsskogan from 1991 to 1995, and was a member of the
Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...
from 2001 to 2009, the last four years as his party's parliamentary leader.


Early and personal life

Ryan was born 15 August 1956 in Overhalla of forester Arvid Ryan and nurse Irene Opdal. He attended Øysletta School from 1963 to 1969. At the age of eight, he started the association Tiger to establish a ski jump. He attended Overhalla Lower Secondary School from 1969 to 1972, and was during the period active in
orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...
and association football as a goalie. He attended Namdal Upper Secondary School from 1972 to 1975, where he took general academics. During secondary school, his best subject was history. On 5 November 2005, Ryan married Bjørg Tørresdal. She was a fellow member of parliament, representing the Christian Democratic Party. Priest and Minister of the Environment
Helen Bjørnøy Helen Oddveig Bjørnøy (born 18 February 1954 in Ålesund, Norway) is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician ( Socialist Left Party), currently County Governor of Buskerud. From October 2005 to October 2007, she was Minister of the Enviro ...
wedded the couple. In June 2009, Ryan was admitted to
Ullevål University Hospital Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...
for treatment. His close friend and
Minister of Health and Care Services The Minister of Health and Care Services ( no, Helse- og omsorgsministeren) is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Health and Care Services. Since 14 October 2021 the position has been held by Ingvild Kjerkol of the Labour ...
,
Bjarne HÃ¥kon Hanssen Bjarne HÃ¥kon Hanssen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian politician of the Labour Party who served Minister of Health and Social Care Services from 2008 to 2009, Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2005 to 2008 and Minister of Agricu ...
from the Labour Party, phoned director Tove Strand at Ullevål to inquire why Ryan was not admitted to Rikshospitalet and whether he was receiving the necessary treatment. This spurred a public debate about the incident.


Professional career

While attending secondary school, Ryan had several small jobs, including for Øyvind Johansen. When 18, Ryan worked at a fish factory in Sørvær. Ryan worked as a teacher at Skorovatn School from 1975 to 1977, after which he studied teaching at Levanger College and Alta College, graduating in 1980. He has also studied history at Bodø College and pedagogy at the
University of Trondheim A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. He then started working as a teacher at Trones School in Namsskogan until 1987, when he was appointed principal. Among his pedagogical methods were starting a local radio station, run by the students, and establishing the zoo Namsskogan Familiepark, with the pupils as minority shareholders, and established a bakery run by the students. He returned as teacher in 1991, but chose to apply for the job as principal in Alvdal. He was awarded the job, but was elected mayor before starting the job. Ryan was also a board member of Namsskogan Familiepark from 1987 to 1991. He worked as mayor from 1991 to 1995, and from then until 1997 was regional director of the Norwegian Public Employment Service. In 1996, he applied for the job as chief-of-administration in Tromsø, but failed to get the job. He quit this job in protest against the state's unemployment policies, because he had been instructed to "depopulate Indre Namdal", because the agency policies required people to be moved if they could not get jobs locally. From 1997 to 2001, he was the director of Indre Namdal Regional Council. From 2001 to 2009, Ryan worked as a full-time member of parliament. On 19 December 2008, Ryan was appointed County Governor of Nord-Trøndelag. He started on 1 November 2009, succeeding
Oddbjørn Nordset Oddbjørn Karmhus Nordset (born 25 March 1946) is a Norwegian civil servant and politician for the Centre Party. He took an agricultural education, graduating from the Norwegian College of Agriculture with the cand.agric. degree in 1973. Before ...
, who had been acting for
Inger Lise Gjørv Inger Lise Gjørv (26 May 1938 – 28 March 2009) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. Career She was born in Oslo as the daughter of physician Sverre Strand (1906–1992) and housewife Liv Alnæs (1912–2005). She enrolled as a stud ...
since 2008. Initially, he held the position for six years.


Political career

Ryan's first political activity started at the age of 15, when his grandfather Helge Opdal took him to a political meeting, where Ryan listed to the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician
Guttorm Hansen Guttorm Hansen (3 November 1920 – 2 April 2009) was a Norwegian writer and politician for the Labour Party. He started his career as a mechanic, but after 1945 he was a journalist and editor of magazines and newspapers. Via local politics in hi ...
. In 1971, Ryan attended Red Youth's summer camp, the youth wing of the Red Electoral Alliance. He was given a code name and started a chapter in Overhalla. At upper secondary school, Ryan became an active promoter of the socialist newspaper '' Klassekampen''. Ryan's interest for politics died down afterwards.


Municipal and county

Prior to the 1983 municipal election,
Odd Einar Dørum Odd Einar Dørum (born 12 October 1943)Sjavik, Jan (2010) ''The A to Z of Norway'', Scarecrow Press, , p. 60 is a Norwegian former politician and former member of parliament, representing the Liberal Party. He was leader of the party on two occas ...
, the leader of the Liberal Party asked him to run as a candidate for the municipal council, and Ryan accepted since he did not disagree with anything on the program. He was however not elected. In 1989, the Socialist Left Party started a chapter in Namsskogan, and Ryan was nominated as top candidate. Following the 1991 election, the party won 26.2% of the popular vote. The party cooperated with the Centre Party, which involved the Socialist Left Party gaining the mayor for the four-year term in exchange for supporting the Centre Party's candidate in the next term. Ryan, who had never met in a single municipal council meeting, was thereby elected mayor. Nationally, the party captured only seven mayors in the election. In the same election, Ryan was also elected member of
Nord-Trøndelag County Council Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...
. The following year, Ryan was appointed as board member of the county-owned power company Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk, where he sat until 1999. He was also leader of the Namsskogan chapter of the Socialist Left Party. In the 1995 election, Ryan was re-elected to the municipal council and county council, and subsequently appointed deputy mayor of Namsskogan and the county's executive board. In 1996, he was appointed to the board of a government committee to grant subsidies to local stores in remote locations. The same year he became a deputy board member of
Nord-Trøndelag University College Nord-Trøndelag University College (Norwegian: Høgskolen i Nord-Trøndelag) or HiNT was a Norwegian university college located throughout the county of Nord-Trøndelag. HiNT had about 5,500 students and 440 employees in 2013. In January 2016, th ...
, and from 1999 until 2001 he was a regular member. From 1998 to 2002, he also sat on the board of Trøndelag R&D Institute. Following the 1999 election, Ryan was re-elected to the municipal and county councils, and was appointed to the county's executive board. From 1999 to 2001, Ryan sat on the board for Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS). Ryan also sat in the KS-appointed Stand Committee, led by
Morten Strand Morten Strand (born 23 September 1947) is a Norwegian footballer and politician for the Conservative Party. He hails from Bekkestua in Bærum, but now resides in Vollen. In his younger days he was a football goalkeeper for Stabæk, from 1965 to ...
, that suggested to reduce the number of directorate and reduce the influence of the county governors.


Parliament and national politics

Prior to the 1993 parliamentary election, Ryan was one of three nominee candidates for the Socialist Left Party's list in Nord-Trøndelag. Ryan was nominated on third place on the list, after
Jorunn Hageler Jorunn Synnøve Hageler, , (8 October 1946 – 31 January 2023)Jorunn Hageler er død
was a N ...
and
Inge Staldvik Inge Staldvik (born 6 January 1955) is a Norwegian politician, first for the Labour Party and later for the Socialist Left Party. Staldvik was mayor of Røyrvik from 1983 to 1985. He sat as the Labour Party's first deputy member from Nord-Trønd ...
. Hageler was elected to parliament, and Ryan was her second deputy during the term 1993 to 1997. Prior to the 1997 election, Ryan was launched as an alternative top candidate for Nord-Trøndelag. At the nomination meeting, Hageler won 23 against Ryan's 13 votes, and Ryan was placed on second place on the list. After the nomination, Hageler stated that she regretted having said that Ryan was less suitable to sit in parliament than she was, because of his down-to-earth appeal and informal dress code. The party failed to win a seat from the county in 1997. Ryan was a possible candidate to become deputy party leader of his party in 1997, but was instead appointed as central board member. He became deputy leader in 1999, a position he held until 2001. In the 2001 election, Ryan was the party's top candidate in the county, and succeeded in winning a seat. The party had its best election ever, including in Nord-Trøndelag, where it won 13.8% of the votes, up 7.5% compared to 1997. Ryan became a member of the party's largest parliamentary group ever. During the parliamentary term from 2001 to 2005, Ryan was a member of the
Standing Committee on Business and Industry The Standing Committee on Business and Industry ( no, Næringskomiteen) is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for policies relating to business, industry, trade, shipping, state ownership policy, competition and pri ...
and the
Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...
. He was a member of the parliamentary delegation to the
Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...
. He also was a deputy member of the
European Committee European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
and the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In the 2005 election, Ryan was successful at retaining his seat. Following the Socialist Left Party's entering government as part of
Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. On 9 September ...
, Ryan was appointed the party's parliamentary leader. He was appointed first vice chair of the
Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs ( no, Kontroll- og konstitusjonskomiteen) is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It holds a supervisory role in relation to the proceedings of the parliament and public se ...
, a position he held until 24 November 2007, when he again sat on the Standing Committee on Business and Industry. For the full term 2005 to 2009, he was a member of the Election Committee and the
Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs The Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence is a special committee of the Parliament of Norway. It holds non-disclosed discussions with the government regarding important issues of foreign affairs, trade policy and security issues. Other ...
. He was a delegate to the Nordic Council, and from 2007 a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.


Political policy

Since the 1970s, Namsskogan had experienced a rapid decline in the population, from 1,750 to 1,000 in the early 1990s. Among Ryan's political changes as mayor was to encourage people to take their holidays in the winter instead of the summer. He argued that the three main industries in Namsskogan—agriculture, forestry and tourism—all had their peaks during May through October, but that it was difficult to get sufficient work-force during this period because people were on holiday. The municipality offered to anyone who took their three-week summer vacation during the winter. Ryan also introduced a public service office, where residents could be served with all necessary public over-the-counter services at one place. For people living outside the community center, a cooperation was made with local stores where people could send in standardized application there. Some simple applications, such as erecting a simple garage, were approved on the spot at the service office. The Socialist Left Party used Namsskogan during the 1995 election as their prime example for how they wanted to modernize the public sector. Ryan's election as party deputy leader in 1999 was largely due to the party's parliamentary support for the
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
. Ryan represented the branch of the party that was opposed to the Norwegian participation in the war, and was appointed to supplement the
Kristin Halvorsen Kristin Halvorsen (born 2 September 1960) is a Norwegian politician of the Socialist Left Party. She served as Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2009 and as Minister of Education from 2009 to 2013. She also served as the party's leader from 1997 ...
and
Øystein Djupedal Øystein Kåre Djupedal (born 5 May 1960) is a Norwegian politician. Djupedal was born in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the we ...
, who were both in favor of the bombings. In 2001, Ryan proposed allowing local stores to function as branches of Vinmonopolet, the state-run liquor stores, to allow liquor and wine retailing in rural areas. During the 2001 election, Ryan's main issues were related to regional policy. He wanted to introduce subsidies for local stores in rural areas, and equal price throughout the country for power line component in the electrical prices. Other issues were increased funding for schools, increasing the progressivity of taxation and making a two-tier system for taxes on electricity. After being elected, Ryan worked to establish public service offices, and wanted to force state agencies to participate in these. He also called for a separate Minister of Rural Affairs.


Election results


Municipal elections


County elections


Parliamentary elections

In the 1993 and 1997, Ryan was third and second candidate on the lists. For the 2001 and 2005 elections, he was the top candidate.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Inge 1956 births Living people People from Overhalla Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting Mayors of places in Nord-Trøndelag Heads of schools in Norway County governors of Norway 21st-century Norwegian politicians