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

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 ...

politician. He 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 ...

for Upper Bann since 2003. He was previously the Minister for Infrastructure from May to October 2022 and the 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 ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

ran in the 2011 Irish presidential election.

Early career

O'Dowd was born in 1967 in

Tullylish Tullylish ()PlaceNamesNI - Tullylish
Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

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 River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...

. 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 Nort ...

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 Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

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 Nichola Mallon (born 23 August 1979) is an Irish politician from Northern Ireland serving as Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2017. She served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast No ...

of the SDLP who failed to retain her seat in the previous weeks 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