Gerry Mullan | |
---|---|
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Londonderry | |
In office May 2016 –26 January 2017 | |
Preceded by | John Dallat |
Succeeded by | John Dallat |
Personal details | |
Born | Limavady,County Londonderry,Northern Ireland | 24 September 1954
Nationality | Irish |
Political party | Independent (2017) |
Other political affiliations | SDLP (Until 2017) |
Gerry Mullan (born 24 September 1954) is a former Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician from Limavady,County Londonderry,Northern Ireland. [1] He was an Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry from 2016 until 2017,when he was deselected by the SDLP in favour of John Dallat,who returned to politics following a short retirement. [2]
Mullan was first elected as a councillor to Limavady Borough Council in 2001 representing the Bellarena ward for the Social Democratic and Labour Party. [3] He served on the council for thirteen years and was appointed as the last Mayor of Limavady in 2014. [3] In 2014,Limavady Borough Council was merged with Ballymoney Borough Council,Coleraine Borough Council and Moyle District Council to become Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council;Mullan won a seat on the new council. [4]
At the 2015 United Kingdom general election,Mullan was selected to represent the SDLP standing for election in East Londonderry. However,he lost to the incumbent Democratic Unionist Party's Gregory Campbell. [5] In 2016,Mullan was selected to stand for the Northern Ireland Assembly in East Londonderry,taking over from John Dallat,who was retiring. [6] Mullan was elected to the Assembly and managed to retain the seat for the SDLP. He resigned his seat on the council as a result in order to take up the role as an MLA. [1] However,Dallat announced he would be returning to politics after seven months of retirement and following an SDLP selection hearing,Dallat was selected to be the SDLP's only candidate in East Londonderry ahead of Mullan at the next Assembly election in a move supported by the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood. [7]
After being deselected by the SDLP,Mullan announced he was quitting the party after twenty years of membership and looking to take legal action,citing his deselection,believing his local constituency should have decided,not the central party,and stating that the SDLP was no longer the party he had joined. [8] The media viewed this as part of a personal feud between Mullan and Dallat. [9] Supporters of Mullan put up posters around County Londonderry alleging Dallat was enriching himself by him taking retirement severance and running again after such a short retirement period,though Mullan himself had not endorsed this action. [10] Dallat's daughter,Helena Dallat O'Driscoll,took Mullan to an employment tribunal,alleging he had discriminated against her on marital and gender grounds by refusing to employ her in his constituency office. The case was dismissed,however,after Dallat's daughter failed to pay the £200 court fee. [11] Mullan announced his intention to stand in the 2017 Assembly elections as an independent to try to retain his seat but was not elected. [12] [13]
Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry,Northern Ireland,with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying 17 miles (27 km) east of Derry and 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Coleraine,Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the 2011 Census. In the 40 years between 1971 and 2011,Limavady's population nearly doubled. Limavady is within Causeway Coast and Glens Borough.
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
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Moyle District Council was a local council in County Antrim in the northeast of Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymoney Borough Council,Coleraine Borough Council and Limavady Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Causeway Coast and Glens District Council.
Coleraine Borough Council was a local council mainly in County Londonderry and partly in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymoney Borough Council,Limavady Borough Council and Moyle District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Causeway Coast and Glens District Council
Limavady Borough Council was a local government body in Northern Ireland. In May 2015 it merged with Coleraine Borough Council,Ballymoney Borough Council and Moyle District Council under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Causeway Coast and Glens District Council.
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Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It covers most of the northern coast of Northern Ireland and replaced Ballymoney Borough Council,Coleraine Borough Council,Limavady Borough Council and Moyle District Council. The area covered by the council has a population of 140,877 residents as at the 2011 census.
Elections for local government were held in Northern Ireland in May 1977.
Causeway Coast and Glens is a local government district covering most of the northern part of Northern Ireland. It was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the Borough of Ballymoney,the Borough of Coleraine,the Borough of Limavady and the District of Moyle. The local authority is Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
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