Armagh City and District Council

Coordinates: 54°20′53″N 6°39′22″W / 54.348°N 6.656°W / 54.348; -6.656

Armagh City and District
Geography
Area - Total	Ranked 6th (of 26) of 26 671 km²
Admin HQ	Armagh
ISO 3166-2	GB-ARM
ONS code	95O
Demographics
Population - Total (2010) - Density	Ranked / km²
Community	Catholic: 50.0% Protestant: 48.7%
Politics
Control	No overall control Sinn Féin: 6 UUP: 6 SDLP: 5 DUP: 4 Independent: 1
MLAs	Newry & Armagh Sinn Féin: 3 DUP: 1 SDLP: 1 UUP: 1
MPs	Conor Murphy (Sinn Féin)
Meeting place
Website
http://www.armagh.gov.uk/

Armagh City and District Council is a district council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It includes the city of Armagh, as well as the surrounding area and its population is about 54,000. City status was officially conferred in 1995. Armagh has a long reputation as an administrative centre and the headquarters of the Southern Education and Library Board and the Southern Health and Social Services Board are currently located in the city. The Armagh Outreach Centre was established in 1995 and is linked to the Queen's University of Belfast. The heads of both the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland reside in the city which was established by St Patrick as the Christian capital of Ireland. It also has some important Georgian architecture.

The district consists of four electoral areas: Armagh City, Cusher, Crossmore and The Orchard, from which 22 councillors are elected for a period of four years by proportional representation. At the last election in 2005 members were elected from the following political parties: 6 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 6 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 5 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and 5 Sinn Féin. Councillor Paul Berry was elected for the DUP but is now an independent. The current mayor of Armagh is Councillor Jim Speers (UUP). The next election was due to take place in May 2009, but on April 25, 2008, Shaun Woodward, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced that the scheduled 2009 district council elections were to be postponed until the introduction of the eleven new councils in 2011.^[1] The proposed reforms were abandoned in 2010, and the next district council elections will take place in 2011^[2]

In May 2011 council elections the results were as followed; 4 (-2)Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 5 (-1) Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), 6 (+1) Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and 6 (+1) Sinn Féin. Councillor Paul Berry was elected as an independent.

Together with part of the district of Newry and Mourne, it forms the Newry & Armagh constituency for elections to the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Mayor

A list of Mayors of Armagh (officially, the Mayor of Armagh City and District) since 1995:

1995 - 96: Jim Nicholson, Ulster Unionist Party

1996 - 97: Jim Speers, Ulster Unionist Party

1997 - 98: Pat Brannigan, Social Democratic and Labour Party

1998 - 99: Robert Turner, Ulster Unionist Party

1999 - 00: Tom Canavan, Social Democratic and Labour Party

2000 - 01: Jimmy Clayton, Ulster Unionist Party

2001 - 02: Sylvia McRoberts, Ulster Unionist Party

2002 - 03: Anna Brolly, Social Democratic and Labour Party

2003 - 04: Pat O'Rawe, Sinn Féin

2004 - 05: Eric Speers, Ulster Unionist Party

2005 - 06: John Campbell, Social Democratic and Labour Party

2006 - 07: William Irwin, Democratic Unionist Party

2007 - 08: Charles Rollston, Ulster Unionist Party

2008 - 09: Noel Sheridan, Sinn Féin

2009 - 10: Thomas O'Hanlon, Social Democratic and Labour Party

2010 - Present: Jim Speers, Ulster Unionist Party

See also

• Local Councils in Northern Ireland

References

1. ^ Northern Ireland elections are postponed, BBC News, April 25, 2008, accessed April 27, 2008
2. ^ "The executive fails to agree a deal on council reform". BBC News. 15 June 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/10314865.stm. Retrieved 8 July 2010. 

External links

• Armagh City and District Council
• Visit Armagh