Norah Beare (born 25 May 1946) is a former Northern Irish unionist politician who served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2003 to 2007.[1]
Background
She was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate in the Assembly election of 2003;[2] however, she defected to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in 2004 along with Jeffrey Donaldson MP, MLA for Lagan Valley and Arlene Foster, MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.[3][4]
Norah Beare worked for forty years as a secretary in a number of different companies and then became in 1997 the Personal Assistant to Jeffrey Donaldson. Beare was elected to the Banbridge, County Down council in 2001 as a UUP candidate. On Donaldson's advice she was selected as the third UUP candidate for the November 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly elections.[5]
In December 2003 she resigned, with Donaldson and Arlene Foster, from the UUP and subsequently joined the DUP in January 2004. In 2005 she was re-elected to the council as a DUP politician.[citation needed] In January 2007, Beare was not selected by the Lagan Valley DUP association to fight the next Northern Ireland Assembly elections due in early March 2007.[citation needed]
Beare was elected chairman of Banbridge District Council in 2008.[6]
References
- ^ Information Office, Northern Ireland Assembly (1 November 2003). "Northern Ireland Assembly – Biography – Norah Beare". archive.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Northern Ireland Assembly Elections – Lagan Valley". ARK Northern Ireland. 7 October 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
- ^ "DUP claims UUP defections". BBC. 22 January 2004. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
- ^ "The Northern Ireland Assembly". niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ McKernan, Michael; McQuade, Owen (March 2004). Northern Ireland Yearbook. Bmf Business Services. ISBN 9780953767298.
- ^ Paul Wilkinson (10 June 2008). "DUP'S Beare Takes the Council Hot Seat". Banbridge Leader. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
