Norah Beare

Who is Norah Beare?

Norah Beare was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley.

She was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party candidate in the Assembly election of 2003; however, she defected to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2004 along with Jeffrey Donaldson MP, MLA for Lagan Valley and Arlene Foster, MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

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.

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.

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.

Beare was elected chairman of Banbridge District Council in 2008.

Her interests include children, animal welfare and women's issues. She is DUP Party Spokesperson for Health and Social Services.