| 4th Northern Ireland Assembly | |
| Body: | Assembly |
| Country: | Northern Ireland |
| Meeting Place: | Parliament Buildings, Stormont |
| Election: | 2011 assembly election |
| Government: | Executive of the 4th Assembly |
| Term Start: | 12 May 2011 |
| Term End: | 29 March 2016 |
| Before: | 3rd Assembly |
| After: | 5th Assembly |
| Membership1: | 108 |
| Chamber1 Leader1 Type: | Speaker |
| Chamber1 Leader1: | Mitchel McLaughlin — William Hay |
| Chamber1 Leader2 Type: | First Minister |
| Chamber1 Leader2: | Arlene Foster — Peter Robinson — Arlene Foster (Acting) — Peter Robinson |
| Chamber1 Leader3 Type: | Deputy First Minister |
| Chamber1 Leader3: | Martin McGuinness — John O'Dowd (Acting) — Martin McGuinness |
| Session1 Start: | 12 May 2011 |
| Session1 End: | 28 June 2011 |
| Session2 Start: | 12 September 2011 |
| Session2 End: | 3 July 2012 |
| Session3 Start: | 10 September 2012 |
| Session3 End: | 16 July 2013 |
| Session4 Start: | 9 September 2013 |
| Session4 End: | 1 July 2014 |
| Session5 Start: | 8 September 2014 |
| Session5 End: | 4 July 2015 |
The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011.[1] This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament Buildings in Stormont, and ran for a full term.
The election saw 18 Assembly constituencies return six Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) each. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), led by Peter Robinson, remained the largest unionist party and the largest overall. Sinn Féin, led by Gerry Adams, remained the largest Irish nationalist party and the second largest overall. As per the Belfast Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement, a power-sharing coalition was then formed with the DUP, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. William Hay was elected as Speaker in the first sitting of the assembly. Following Hay's retirement, Mitchel McLaughlin was elected as the first nationalist Speaker in October 2014.
The UUP, led by Tom Elliott, and the SDLP, led by Margaret Ritchie, secured fewer seats than in the previous assembly. The Alliance Party, led by David Ford, emerged from the election with an increased mandate after securing an additional seat. The four main parties which sat outside of the Northern Ireland Executive and thereby served unofficially in opposition were the Green Party in Northern Ireland, the Traditional Unionist Voice, NI21 and the United Kingdom Independence Party.
More than three quarters of the members of the 3rd Northern Ireland Assembly were re-elected to the 4th: 83 MLAs had been members for all or part of the assembly's previous term. This included 11 individuals who became MLAs in the previous assembly by virtue of co-option. Twenty of the MLAs elected in 2011 were women. 25 new MLAs were elected to the assembly, 23% of the total.
| --style="font-size: 95%;-->" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Designation | May 2011 election | Jul 2015 end | ||
| ● | Democratic Unionist Party | Unionist | 38 | 38 | |
| ● | Sinn Féin | Nationalist | 29 | 28 | |
| ● | Ulster Unionist Party | Unionist | 16 | 13 | |
| ● | Social Democratic and Labour Party | Nationalist | 14 | 14 | |
| ● | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | Other | 8 | 8 | |
| Green Party in Northern Ireland | Other | 1 | 1 | ||
| Traditional Unionist Voice | Unionist | 1 | 1 | ||
| Independent | Unionist | 1 | 2 | ||
| NI21 | Unionist | style="text-align:center;" | - | 1 | |
| UKIP | Unionist | style="text-align:center;" | - | 1 | |
| Speaker | None | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals by designation | Unionist | 56 | 56 | ||
| Nationalist | 43 | 42 | |||
| Other | 9 | 9 | |||
| None | 0 | 1 | |||
| Total | 108 | ||||
| ● = Northern Ireland Executive | |||||
This is a list of MLAs elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, sorted by party.
Not to be confused: Paul Girvan (South Antrim) and Paul Givan (Lagan Valley) are different people, although both were co-opted to replace retiring Democratic Unionist members of the last Assembly. Roy Beggs, Jr. (born 1962) is the son of the Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs (born 1936), a former Assembly member for North Antrim and former MP for East Antrim in the British House of Commons. Similarly Mark H. Durkan (b. 1978) is the nephew of the former SDLP leader Mark Durkan (b. 1960), who left the Assembly after his election in 2010 as MP for Foyle.[2]
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
The list is given in alphabetical order by constituency.
Twenty-five members of the third Assembly who were sitting at its dissolution on 24 March 2011 were succeeded by new members after the election of 5 May 2011. Seventeen sitting members did not present themselves for re-election and another eight were defeated at the polls. One re-elected member had been elected with a different affiliation in 2007.
The numbers indicate the percentage of votes each member received in the first round of counting under the Single Transferable Vote in the 2011 election, and the round which decided his or her election or defeat.[3] [4]
This is a sortable table arranged alphabetically by the new member's surname. In some constituencies (Foyle, West Tyrone and Fermanagh & South Tyrone) where it is not possible to couple a single outgoing member by party with a single successor, the incoming members are arranged alphabetically (so the second one may be out of alphabetic order with the rest of the table) and the outgoing members are arranged arbitrarily.
| Outgoing member(s) | Party | 1st pref | Round | Constituency | New Member(s) | Party | 1st pref | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (retiring) | Green Party in N. Ireland | — | — | North Down | Green | 7.9% | 11 | ||
| SDLP | 9.1% | 9 | North Antrim | Trad. U. Voice | 10.1% | 9 | |||
| (retiring) | Sinn Féin | — | — | West Tyrone | Sinn Féin | 12.9% | 4 | ||
| Ulster Unionist | 8.2% | 7 | Belfast North | DUP | 10.4% | 6 | |||
(retiring) | Democratic Unionist Independent | 10.3% — | 0 — | West Tyrone | SDLP UUP | 8.5% 10.4% | 5 | ||
| Ind. (elected as Prog. U.) | 5.3% | 11 | Belfast East | Alliance | 13.4% | 7 | |||
| (retiring) Lord Empey | Ulster Unionist | — | — | Belfast East | UUP | 6.8% | 11 | ||
| (retiring) | Alliance | — | — | East Antrim | Alliance | 10.0% | 9 | ||
| (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | Upper Bann | UUP | 7.9% | 7 | ||
| (retiring) Baron Browne of Belmont | Democratic Unionist | — | — | Belfast East | DUP | 8.3% | 11 | ||
| Ind. (elected as UUP) | 6.7% | 9 | North Down | DUP | 13.3% | 2 | |||
[replaced [[Mark Durkan]], MP] Mary Bradley (retiring) | SDLP | 6.8% — | 4 — | Foyle | Colum Eastwood | SDLP | 12.8% 7.6% | 4 7 | |
| SDLP | 9.6% | 6 | Fermanagh & South Tyrone | Sinn Féin | 10.6% | 6 | |||
| (retiring) | Ind. (elected as SF) | — | — | Fermanagh & South Tyrone | Sinn Féin | 10.7% | 6 | ||
| (retiring) | Sinn Féin | — | — | Lagan Valley | DUP | 8.2% | 7 | ||
| SDLP | 10.6% | 0 | South Antrim | DUP | 8.9% | 4 | |||
| , PC (retiring) Lord Bannside | Democratic Unionist | — | — | North Antrim | DUP | 8.1% | 8 | ||
| (retiring) | SDLP | — | — | South Down | SDLP | 9.0% | 9 | ||
| (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | East Antrim | Sinn Féin | 8.2% | 10 | ||
| (retiring) [replaced [[Jim Shannon]]] | Democratic Unionist | — | — | Strangford | UUP | 11.0% | 6 | ||
| (retiring) [replaced [[Francie Brolly]]] | Sinn Féin (suspended) | — | — | East Londonderry | Sinn Féin | 13.5% | 6 | ||
| (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | Mid Ulster | UUP | 10.3% | 6 | ||
| (retiring) | Ulster Unionist | — | — | North Antrim | UUP | 6.2% | 9 |
David McClarty, originally elected from East Londonderry as an Ulster Unionist, although not re-nominated by the UUP in 2011, stood successfully for re-election as an independent. This reduced the UUP's strength from 2007, while keeping independent strength in the Assembly at one (as Kieran Deeny, the retiring independent member, was not succeeded in West Tyrone by another independent). McClarty decided not to re-join the UUP after his re-election.[5] [6]
| Date | Constituency | Name | Previous affiliation | New affiliation | Circumstance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 May 2011 | Foyle | William Hay | William Hay elected Speaker of the Assembly at its first sitting. | ||||
| 27 January 2012 | Strangford | David McNarry | David McNarry suspended from the UUP for nine months after an investigation by the party. | ||||
| 4 October 2012 | Strangford | David McNarry | David McNarry joined UKIP becoming the party's first Northern Ireland MLA. | ||||
| 14 February 2013 | South Down | John McCallister | John McCallister resigned from the UUP after it formed an electoral pact with the DUP. | ||||
| 15 February 2013 | Lagan Valley | Basil McCrea | Basil McCrea resigned from the UUP after it formed an electoral pact with the DUP. | ||||
| 6 June 2013 | South Down | John McCallister | John McCallister along with McCrea established a new political party. | ||||
| 6 June 2013 | Lagan Valley | Basil McCrea | Basil McCrea along with McCallister established a new political party. | ||||
| 3 July 2014 | South Down | John McCallister | John McCallister resigns from NI21 over differences with the party leadership regarding an investigation into sexual wrongdoing by party leader, Basil McCrea.[22] | ||||
| 12 January 2015 | South Antrim | Mitchel McLaughlin | Mitchel McLaughlin elected Speaker of the Assembly following the retirement of William Hay. | ||||