Declan O'Loan

Declan O'Loan
Member of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
In office
22 May 2014 – 2 May 2019
Preceded byCouncil created
Succeeded byEugene Reid
ConstituencyBallymena
Member of Ballymena Borough Council
In office
19 May 1993 – 22 May 2014
Preceded byDistrict created
Succeeded byCouncil abolished
ConstituencyBallymena South
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Antrim North
In office
7 March 2007 – 5 May 2011
Preceded bySean Farren
Succeeded byJim Allister
Personal details
Born (1951-08-05) 5 August 1951 (age 73)
Carnlough, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partySDLP
SpouseNuala O'Loan
Children5
Alma materFitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Imperial College London

Declan O'Loan (born 5 August 1951) is a former Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician who served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim from 2007 to 2011. O’Loan was also a Member of Ballymena Borough Council from 1993 to 2014..[1] Following comments about merging with Sinn Fein, he had the SDLP whip suspended, sitting as an Independent in 2010.[2] He would later serve as a Mid and East Antrim Councillor for the Ballymena DEA from 2014 to 2019

Career

O'Loan first stood as an SDLP candidate in Ballymena Borough Council, in the Ballymena District in the 1989 local elections, but was unsuccessful. He was elected to the Council at the 1993 local elections for the Ballymena South District.

He was the running mate to the incumbent SDLP MLA, Sean Farren, at the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election, but was not elected, polling 2,361 first preference votes.

O'Loan was later elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2007 election, succeeding Farren. In May 2010, He was suspended by the SDLP after advocating a merger between the SDLP and Sinn Féin to form a single nationalist party.[2] The SDLP had refused to make an electoral pact with Sinn Féin in the 2010 Westminster election.[2][3]

In the May 2011 election, O'Loan ran as an SDLP candidate for re-election to the Assembly from North Antrim, but was eliminated in the last round of ballot-counting. He was, however, re-elected onto Ballymena Borough Council in the local elections held the same day.

O'Loan was later elected onto the newly created Mid and East Antrim Borough Council in the 2014 local elections for the Ballymena District. He retired at the 2019 local elections.

Personal life

Declan O'Loan is married to Nuala O'Loan, a former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. He is also the Honorary Consul of Romania in Northern Ireland. O'Loan studied at Imperial College London and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[4]

Organisational membership

  • Secretary of the Association of SDLP Councillors
  • Chair of Ballymena District Policing Partnership
  • Chair of Ballymena Community Safety Partnership
  • Member of the Board of Ballymena Citizens Advice Bureau
  • Member of the Board of Ballymena Community Forum
  • Member of the Ballymena Local Strategy Partnership
  • Member of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council

References

  1. ^ "Ballymena Borough Council - Councillors". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "SDLP suspends O'Loan after merger call". BreakingNews.ie. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  3. ^ "BBC News – Party whip removed from SDLP's Declan O'Loan". BBC News. BBC News. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Declan O'Loan Profile". SDLP. 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by MLA for Antrim North
2007–2011 		Succeeded by
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