Ian Marshall OBE | |
---|---|
Senator | |
In office 27 April 2018 – 27 March 2020 | |
Constituency | Agricultural Panel |
Personal details | |
Born | 1968 Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
Political party | Ulster Unionist [1] (2021–2023) |
Other political affiliations | Independent Unionist [2] (until 2021) |
Alma mater | |
Website |
ianmarshall |
Ian James Marshall OBE (born 1968) [3] is a farmer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician from Markethill, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. [4] He is from a unionist background and campaigned against Brexit. [4] [5] He was elected to Seanad Éireann in Dublin in 2018, but lost his seat in the 2020 Seanad election. [6]
Marshall is a dairy farmer in the agrifood sector. He was president of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) from 2014 to 2016. [7] [8] [9] In 2015 he invested in the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive scheme and later complained that its critics made no distinction between legitimate investors and those who misused the scheme. [10] In February 2017 the UFU successfully challenged a 2012 reduction by DARD in Marshall's CAP grant, provoked by nitrate pollution detected by NIEA near his farm in 2010–2011, on the basis that the pollution was unintentional. [11] In August 2017, Marshall was appointed Business Development Manager at the Institute for Global Food Security in Queen's University Belfast. [12] [13]
Marshall was elected to the 25th Seanad on 27 April 2018 in a by-election for the Agricultural Panel. [14] The vacancy was caused by the resignation of Denis Landy. He was approached to stand by then Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar; his candidacy was also supported by Sinn Féin. [13] [14] He had never been a member of a political party and sat as an Independent. [15] He was the first unionist member elected to the Oireachtas since the 1930s. [16]
He lost his seat at the 2020 Seanad election. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2021 Seanad by-election to the Agricultural Panel [17] which followed the resignation of Fine Gael Senator Michael W. D'Arcy. [18] He was again backed by Sinn Féin, but not by Fine Gael. [19] In The Irish Times, columnist Fintan O'Toole lamented that "it was much more important for the Government parties to vote for one of their own than to place a single liberal unionist from Armagh (Ian Marshall) in the Oireachtas." [20]
Marshall was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for public and political service. [21] [22]
On 27 July 2021, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) announced that Marshall had joined the party. [23] Marshall commented that the UUP offered "a moderate, considerate position" and a "move on from identity politics to focus on things that are a priority for most people – the economy, jobs, healthcare, housing and building good relationships across this island and between our two islands". [24] [25]
Marshall stood unsuccessfully as the UUP candidate for West Tyrone in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, polling 1,876 votes, 4.1% of the total. He resigned from the UUP in August 2023. [26]
Ian Marshall OBE | |
---|---|
Senator | |
In office 27 April 2018 – 27 March 2020 | |
Constituency | Agricultural Panel |
Personal details | |
Born | 1968 Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland |
Political party | Ulster Unionist [1] (2021–2023) |
Other political affiliations | Independent Unionist [2] (until 2021) |
Alma mater | |
Website |
ianmarshall |
Ian James Marshall OBE (born 1968) [3] is a farmer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician from Markethill, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. [4] He is from a unionist background and campaigned against Brexit. [4] [5] He was elected to Seanad Éireann in Dublin in 2018, but lost his seat in the 2020 Seanad election. [6]
Marshall is a dairy farmer in the agrifood sector. He was president of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) from 2014 to 2016. [7] [8] [9] In 2015 he invested in the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive scheme and later complained that its critics made no distinction between legitimate investors and those who misused the scheme. [10] In February 2017 the UFU successfully challenged a 2012 reduction by DARD in Marshall's CAP grant, provoked by nitrate pollution detected by NIEA near his farm in 2010–2011, on the basis that the pollution was unintentional. [11] In August 2017, Marshall was appointed Business Development Manager at the Institute for Global Food Security in Queen's University Belfast. [12] [13]
Marshall was elected to the 25th Seanad on 27 April 2018 in a by-election for the Agricultural Panel. [14] The vacancy was caused by the resignation of Denis Landy. He was approached to stand by then Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar; his candidacy was also supported by Sinn Féin. [13] [14] He had never been a member of a political party and sat as an Independent. [15] He was the first unionist member elected to the Oireachtas since the 1930s. [16]
He lost his seat at the 2020 Seanad election. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2021 Seanad by-election to the Agricultural Panel [17] which followed the resignation of Fine Gael Senator Michael W. D'Arcy. [18] He was again backed by Sinn Féin, but not by Fine Gael. [19] In The Irish Times, columnist Fintan O'Toole lamented that "it was much more important for the Government parties to vote for one of their own than to place a single liberal unionist from Armagh (Ian Marshall) in the Oireachtas." [20]
Marshall was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for public and political service. [21] [22]
On 27 July 2021, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) announced that Marshall had joined the party. [23] Marshall commented that the UUP offered "a moderate, considerate position" and a "move on from identity politics to focus on things that are a priority for most people – the economy, jobs, healthcare, housing and building good relationships across this island and between our two islands". [24] [25]
Marshall stood unsuccessfully as the UUP candidate for West Tyrone in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, polling 1,876 votes, 4.1% of the total. He resigned from the UUP in August 2023. [26]