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Ian Marshall (politician)

Ian Marshall
OBE
Senator
In office
27 April 2018 – 29 June 2020
ConstituencyAgricultural Panel
Personal details
Born1968
Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Political partyUlster Unionist[1] (2021–2023)
Other political
affiliations		Independent Unionist[2] (until 2021)
Alma mater
Websiteianmarshall.info

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]

Farming

[edit]

Marshall is a dairy farmer. 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]

Seanad

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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]

Ulster Unionist Party

[edit]

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]

References

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  1. ^ Breen, Suzanne (27 July 2021). "Former Irish senator Ian Marshall joins 'inclusive and diverse' UUP". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Ian Marshall: Becoming a member of the Seanad makes me a stronger unionist". The Irish News. Belfast. 20 April 2019. OCLC 49937511. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  3. ^ "First unionist Senator turned down Orange Order as teen". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. 2 July 2018. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b McMahon, Aine (16 February 2018). "Former Ulster Farmers' Union president set to run for Seanad". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  5. ^ McMahon, Aine (24 April 2018). "Sinn Féin to back anti-Brexit campaigner Ian Marshall for the Seanad". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Ian Marshall". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Sinn Féin backs unionist farmer Ian Marshall for Senate". BBC News. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018.
  8. ^ Donnelly, Margaret (1 May 2014). "New leadership team elected at UFU AGM". Agriland. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  9. ^ "New leadership team at UFU". News (Press release). Ulster Farmers' Union. 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  10. ^ McCullough, Chris (19 December 2016). "End witch hunt, urges ex-farmers' union chief who signed up for RHI". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Judicial review supports UFU position". News (Press release). Ulster Farmers Union. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  12. ^ "Ian Marshall IGFS appointment". Staff Gateway. Queen's University Belfast. 1 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  13. ^ a b McMorrow, Conor (24 April 2018). "Sinn Féin backs unionist farmer in Seanad by-election". RTÉ News. Dublin. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  14. ^ a b "Unionist farmer takes one of two Seanad seats". RTÉ News. Dublin. 27 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  15. ^ Adair, Gordon (27 April 2018). "Sinn Féin votes help unionist into Irish senate". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  16. ^ Wheatcroft, Geoffrey. "1998 Review of "Crisis and Decline; the fate of the Southern Unionists"". Archived from the original on 22 February 2011..
  17. ^ "Seanad by-election count continues as Byrne takes seat". RTÉ News. Dublin. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  18. ^ Taylor, Cliff (28 September 2020). "Former junior finance minister to head funds sector lobby group. Michael D'Arcy to resign Seanad seat for Irish Association of Investment Management post". The Irish Times. Dublin. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  19. ^ McGee, Harry (21 April 2021). "Seanad byelection victories boost sense of unity between Government leaders". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0307-5664. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  20. ^ O'Toole, Fintan (1 May 2021). "Partition squeezed out pluralism. We have to let it back in". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0307-5664.
  21. ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N13.
  22. ^ "New Year Honours 2022". NI Direct Government Services. 31 December 2021.
  23. ^ "Former Irish senator Ian Marshall joins UUP". BBC News. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021.
  24. ^ McCambridge, Jonathan (27 July 2021). "Former Irish senator Ian Marshall joins UUP". Irish Examiner. Cork. Press Association. ISSN 1393-9564. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  25. ^ "Former Senator Ian Marshall joins Ulster Unionist Party". RTÉ News. Dublin. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  26. ^ "My time in UUP wasn't what I had hoped, says ex-Irish senator who quit party". Belfast Telegraph. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2024.