Nelson McCausland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nelson McCausland
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| Minister for Social Development | |
| In office 16 May 2011 – 23 September 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Alex Attwood |
| Succeeded by | Mervyn Storey |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast North |
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| In office 26 November 2003 – 25 January 2017 |
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| Preceded by | Fraser Agnew |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 August 1951 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Democratic Unionist Party (2001 - present) Ulster Unionist Party (1993 - 2001) |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast Worcester College, Oxford |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Website | DUP website |
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Nelson McCausland (born 15 August 1951) is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland, who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Belfast from 2003 until he lost his seat in 2017. and served as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure (2009–2011) and subsequently Minister for Social Development (2011–2014) in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Contents
Education
He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was educated at Carr's Glen Primary School, Belfast Royal Academy, Worcester College, Oxford and Queen's University.
Career
He was a science teacher in Ballygomartin Boys Secondary School (later Cairnmartin Secondary School) from 1973 to 1981, and then became the Northern Ireland Secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society, an evangelical Christian organisation. McCausland made his political debut in the 1982 Assembly elections, standing in North Belfast for the United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP), when he was eliminated early on in the count. The UUUP fared badly in that election and afterwards it disbanded.
He ran as an Independent Unionist in a Belfast City Council by-election for Belfast Area H in February 1984, but polled only 9% of the vote. He stood again the following year for the Oldpark area in the local government elections, but managed only 5% of the vote.
He finally succeeded in gaining election for the Castle area in 1989, taking the seat of Alfie Redpath, the by-election victor of five years before. Around this time McCausland briefly served as a member of the Ulster Independence Committee. He was re-elected in 1993 as an Independent Unionist but announced the week after the election that he would join the Ulster Unionist Party and became the High Sheriff of Belfast in 1997. He was a candidate for the UUP in the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections, but was placed third on the UUP list, effectively giving him no chance of election. He attempted to dislodge Cecil Walker as North Belfast MP during the 1990s.
Disenchanted with the UUP under David Trimble, whom he had supported for the leadership, he defected to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2001 and was re-elected as a local councillor for the Oldpark area in 2001 and 2005. McCausland represented the Council on the Ulster Museum and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and he was for some years a member of the Community Relations Council. He stepped down as a councillor in November 2010.
He was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2017. He was suspended twice from the Assembly for unparliamentary language in respect of allegations of Provisional IRA membership made against the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.
McCausland was a member of the Bill of Rights Forum, which was set up by the Northern Ireland Office, after the St Andrews Agreement, to advise on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. The membership was drawn from the main political parties and the community and voluntary sector and it reported on 31 March 2008 but it achieved a minimal level of consensus.
Regarding coverage of a loyalist band filmed playing tunes outside a Catholic church, McCausland said, "If someone was intending to be provocative or inflammatory which is the suggestion that is being made, it wasn't really very provocative...It was just an empty building. There was no-one there to be provoked."
McCausland writes a weekly column in the Belfast Telegraph; he also writes a personal blog entitled Nelson's View.
Affiliations
McCausland was chairman of The Ulster-Scots Heritage Council (USHC) when it was formed in 1995 and was then the director of the USHC from 1997 until his election to the Assembly in 2003. At that time he was succeeded by his party and Council colleague William Humphrey. McCausland served as DUP spokesman and Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure. He takes a particular interest in culture and arts and was chair of the Assembly's Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee.
He is a member of Cross of Saint Patrick LOL 688 and Royal Black Knights of Patrick RBP 146 and was for some years convenor of the Education Committee of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. McCausland served as the Northern Ireland Secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society from 1981 to 1992. He has been described as a "Protestant fundamentalist".
McCausland adheres to the pseudoarchaeological belief that the people of the British Isles are descended from the lost tribes of Israel, and has addressed events organised by the British-Israel-World Federation.
Work
- Patrick, Apostle of Ulster: A Protestant View of Patrick. Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland; ISBN: 978-0-9501444-5-0
