John Fitzgerald O'Dowd (born 10 May 1967) is an Irish

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

politician. He has been a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

for Upper Bann since 2003, and has served as Minister for Finance since February 2025. He served as Minister for Infrastructure from May to October 2022, and again from February 2024 until February 2025. He served as Minister for Education in the Stormont Executive from 2011 to 2016. He briefly took on the duties of deputy First Minister in 2011 while

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

ran in the 2011 Irish presidential election. In 2019, O'Dowd launched an unsuccessful bid to unseat Michelle O'Neill as Vice President of Sinn Féin at the party's

ard fheis or ( , ; 'high assembly'; plural ) is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. Usage Among the parties who use the term or are: * * * * Irish Republican Socialist Party * * Green Party * Republica ...

and received the endorsement of Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew. However, he refused to give media interviews to explain his decision to challenge O'Neill.

Early career

O'Dowd was born in 1967 in Tullylish, a rural community between

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

and

Banbridge Banbridge ( ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. It is in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper ...

. He had trained as a chef before engaging in politics. He began his political career serving for 14 years as a councillor on

Craigavon Borough Council Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Nor ...

and previously served as a school governor. O'Dowd has served as Chair of Upper Bann Sinn Féin and a member of the party's Six County Executive, O'Dowd was leader of the Sinn Féin group on Craigavon Council. In 2003 he was elected as MLA for Upper Bann and in 2005 unsuccessfully contested the same-named Westminster constituency. Between 2007 and 2011 he was

group leader in the Assembly and served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee before becoming a member of the Education Committee in 2008. On the 13 May 2022, he was confirmed as the 'caretaker' Infrastructure Minister replacing Nichola Mallon of the SDLP who failed to retain her seat in the previous week's election. He took office on 16 May 2022.

Acting deputy First Minister

After

nominated

as its candidate in the 2011 Irish presidential election, O'Dowd took over the duties of deputy First Minister on a temporary basis from 20 September to 31 October 2011.

Personal life

O'Dowd is married and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odowd, John 1967 births Living people People from Craigavon, County Armagh Sinn Féin MLAs Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027