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Gordon Lyons

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Gordon Lyons
Minister for Communities
Assumed office
3 February 2024
First MinisterMichelle O'Neill
Preceded byDeirdre Hargey (2022)
Minister for the Economy
In office
6 July 2021 – 27 October 2022
First MinisterPaul Givan
Vacant
Preceded byPaul Frew
Succeeded byConor Murphy (2024)
Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs
In office
2 February 2021 – 8 March 2021
First MinisterArlene Foster
Preceded byEdwin Poots
Succeeded byEdwin Poots
Junior Minister at the Executive Office
In office
8 March 2021 – 17 June 2021
Serving with Declan Kearney
First MinisterArlene Foster
Preceded byGary Middleton
Succeeded byGary Middleton
In office
11 January 2020 – 2 February 2021
Serving with Declan Kearney
First MinisterArlene Foster
Preceded byAlastair Ross
Succeeded byGary Middleton
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for East Antrim
Assumed office
19 August 2015
Preceded bySammy Wilson
Member of
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
In office
22 May 2014 – 19 August 2015
Preceded byCouncil established
Succeeded byAngela Smyth
ConstituencyCoast Road
Personal details
Born (1986-03-06) 6 March 1986 (age 38)
Coleraine, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyDemocratic Unionist Party
Alma materNewcastle University

Gordon Lyons (born 6 March 1986) is a Northern Irish unionist politician, serving as Minister for Communities since 2024. He has also served as Director of Elections for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since 2021. He was Minister for the Economy in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2021 to 2022, and has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since August 2015. He is the DUP's Spokesperson for Finance, Public Service Reform and the Northern Ireland Protocol.[1]

Career

[edit]

Lyons worked as an assistant to DUP MLA Sammy Wilson for five years. He stood unsuccessfully in East Antrim at the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, and also for the Coast Road area of Larne Borough Council in the local elections held that same day.[2][3]

At the 2014 local elections, Lyons was elected for the Coast Road area on the new Mid and East Antrim District Council,[4] and in August 2015, he was co-opted to take Wilson's place on the Assembly.[5]

Lyons was re-elected at the 2016 Assembly Election, and was a member of the Economy Committee and Chairman of the Committee for Procedures.

Following his re-election at the 2017 NI Assembly Election, Lyons was appointed by DUP Leader Arlene Foster as the DUP Assembly Group Chief Whip.

When devolution was restored on 11 January 2020, First Minister Arlene Foster appointed Lyons as Junior Minister in the Executive Office.

He served as the Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs after Edwin Poots stood down temporarily for health reasons.[6]

On 6 July 2021 he became Minister for the Economy after being appointed by the DUP's newly elected Leader Jeffrey Donaldson, taking over from Paul Frew.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Gordon Lyons MLA". DUP. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  2. ^ Victoria Leonard, "Larne Councillor Lyons hopes to replace Sammy Wilson" Archived 20 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Larne Times, 4 August 2015.
  3. ^ Larne Borough Council Elections 1993–2011, Northern Ireland Elections, ark.ac.uk; accessed 3 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Mid and East Antrim District Council Elections, 2014", Northern Ireland Elections
  5. ^ "Gordon Lyons to replace Sammy Wilson as East Antrim MLA", BBC News, 11 August 2015.
  6. ^ "Edwin Poots steps down for 'surgery and recuperation'". BBC News. 2 February 2021 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57730303, 6 July 2021
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by MLA for East Antrim
2015–present
Incumbent