Patricia O'Lynn

Patricia O'Lynn (born 28 September 1989) is a Northern Irish academic, educator, and politician who was an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 2022 to 2023. She was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for North Antrim.[4]

Not to be confused with Patricia O'Flynn.

Patricia O'Lynn
MLA
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for North Antrim
In office
5 May 2022 – 31 March 2023
Preceded byMervyn Storey
Succeeded bySian Mulholland
Member of
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
In office
2 May 2019 – 5 May 2022
Preceded byReuben Glover
Succeeded byJohn Hyland
ConstituencyBallymena
Personal details
Born (1989-09-28) 28 September 1989
NationalityNorthern Irish
Political partyAlliance
EducationSt Killian's College[1]
Alma materQueen's University Belfast (LLB, PhD)[2][3]
OccupationPolitician
WebsiteAssembly profile
Personal website
Academic background
ThesisMainstream, margins and the spaces in-between: youth experiences of school exclusion in Northern Ireland
Doctoral advisorLesley Emerson and Gavin Duffy

Political career

Early career

In 2016, as part of the Washington-Ireland Program, O'Lynn worked as a congressional intern for U.S. Senator John McCain.[2][5][6]

O'Lynn ran as the Alliance Party candidate for North Antrim in the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election, but was unsuccessful.[7] In September 2017, O'Lynn met with Kate Nicholl, then an Alliance councillor on Belfast City Council, who encouraged her to join Alliance and run as a candidate.[8] She was an Alliance candidate again later that year, this time for the 2017 UK general election, running in North Antrim. She came fifth, with 2,723 votes, maintaining Alliance's percentage share of the vote from the previous general election.[9]

O'Lynn then served as a councillor, representing Ballymena, in Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. She was elected at the 2019 local elections, gaining a seat from the DUP.[10]

Later that year, at the 2019 general election, O'Lynn was again the Alliance candidate for the parliamentary constituency of North Antrim. She polled 6,231 votes, taking third place, and increased her share of the vote by 8.5%.[11]

From April 2021 to October 2021, O'Lynn served as a special adviser to Justice Minister Naomi Long while Long's other special adviser Claire Johnson was on maternity leave.[12]

Member of the Legislative Assembly (2022-23)

On 7 May 2022, O'Lynn was elected as the first ever Alliance MLA and the first woman to represent North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Assembly. She was elected on the sixth stage of the count, defeating incumbent DUP MLA Mervyn Storey by a margin of 288 votes - the third tightest margin of victory in Northern Ireland.[13] Her election was considered an upset in the staunchly unionist constituency of North Antrim with BelfastLive describing it as a "seismic shift".[14] In her victory speech, O'Lynn said that the "age of entitlement is over" for DUP dominance in the constituency.[15] Jim Allister, on the other hand, said that Mervyn Storey's loss was a "matter of great sadness to me that his seat has been taken by the crypto-nationalist Alliance Party".[16]

On 22 February 2023, O'Lynn announced that she would resign from Stormont on 31 March to take up a job at Queen's University Belfast.[17] O'Lynn said that it "has been an honour to serve the people of North Antrim" but regrets that she could not "do so in the Assembly chamber itself due to the ongoing impasse, which has proved frustrating".[18] Former MLA Mervyn Storey, who lost his seat to O'Lynn, questioned her "committment" to North Antrim.[19] O'Lynn responded that Storey "desperately needs" a hug.[20] On 16 March, two weeks before leaving office, O'Lynn shared a new personal website that describes her as a keynote speaker, author and coach.[21]

The vacant position created from Lynn's resignation was filled by the co-option of Sian Mulholland, an Alliance councillor on Lisburn and Castlereagh Council.[22] Mulholland was previously co-opted onto Lisburn and Castlereagh Council in 2022 to fill David Honeyford's vacancy following his election to the Assembly and Mulholland also served on Belfast City Council from 2015 to 2022.[23]

Personal life

In 2021, O'Lynn completed doctoral research at Queen’s University Belfast. Her doctoral thesis was titled 'Mainstreams, Margins and the Spaces In-Between: Youth Experiences of School Exclusion in Northern Ireland' and focused on young people’s experiences of exclusion from school within Northern Ireland. She also received the Sir Tomas Dixon Award and the Department for Economy doctoral scholarship.[24] O'Lynn officially graduated from Queen's University Belfast with a PhD on 2 July 2022.[25][26]

Academic works
  • O'Lynn, Patricia (2016). "The right to education for young people excluded from mainstream in a divided society". Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly. 67 (4): 491–514. doi:10.53386/nilq.v67i4.132.
  • McMullen, John; Jones, Sharon; Campbell, Rachel; McLaughlin, Judith; McDade, Barbara; O'Lynn, Patricia; Glen, Catherine (2020). "'Sitting on a wobbly chair': mental health and wellbeing among newcomer pupils in Northern Irish schools". Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. 25 (2): 125–138. doi:10.1080/01629778.2020.1763095. S2CID 219411055.
  • O'Lynn, Patricia (2022). Mainstream, margins and the spaces in-between: youth experiences of school exclusion in Northern Ireland (Thesis). Queen's University Belfast.

References
  1. St Killian's College [@StKillians] (7 May 2022). "Congratulations to past pupils @DannyDonnelly1 and @PatriciaOLynn. GT very proud of you both 💙💛💙" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 May 2022 – via Twitter.
  2. "Your Candidate in North Antrim is Patricia O'Lynn". Alliance Party. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  3. "Patricia O'Lynn". ResearchGate. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  4. "North Antrim election result". BBC News. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  5. "Successful internship for Larne girl in Washington". Northern Ireland World. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  6. "Class of 2016". Washington-Ireland Program. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  7. "NI Assembly Election 2017 - Result Sheets". The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  8. "50:50 NI Meets Patricia O'Lynn". 50:50 NI. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  9. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the NORTH ANTRIM Constituency - Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  10. "Local Council Election Results". The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  11. "North Antrim parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  12. Hughes, Brendan (13 May 2021). "Alliance Party councillor takes up special adviser role to Justice Minister Naomi Long". BelfastLive. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  13. Mulgrew, John (7 May 2022). "North Antrim: Patricia O'Lynn becomes first Alliance MLA as Mervyn Storey squeezed out in shock result". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  14. Fitzmaurice, Maurice; Corr, Shauna (7 May 2022). "North Antrim election result shock as Alliance Party's Patricia O'Lynn wins seat and DUP lose Mervyn Storey". BelfastLive. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  15. "Patricia O'Lynn says the days of entitlement are over". Belfast Telegraph. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  16. Graham, Seanín (7 May 2022). "North Antrim result: Constituency's first woman MLA elected at DUP's expense". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  17. "Alliance Party MLA Patricia O'Lynn to quit Stormont". BBC News. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  18. Reid, Kurtis (22 February 2023). "'It's been an honour': Alliance MLA Patricia O'Lynn announces shock resignation". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  19. Tunney, Liam (28 February 2023). "Mervyn Storey: Patricia O'Lynn resignation is a 'salutary lesson'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  20. Montgomery, Emma (1 March 2023). "Patricia O'Lynn suggests former MLA Mervyn Storey 'needs a hug'". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  21. Hughes, Brendan (18 March 2023). "Outgoing Alliance MLA Patricia O'Lynn launches new website as a keynote speaker and coach". BelfastLive. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  22. Reid, Kurtis (4 April 2023). "Alliance councillor 'honoured' to replace outgoing Patricia O'Lynn in North Antrim". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  23. McGonagle, Suzanne (4 April 2023). "Sian Mulholland confirmed as new Alliance MLA for North Antrim". The Irish News. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  24. "Our Candidates". Alliance Party. Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  25. Queen's University Belfast (2 July 2022). Summer Graduation 2022 | School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work. YouTube. Event occurs at 25:02. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  26. Dr Patricia O'Lynn MLA [@PatriciaOLynn] (3 July 2022). "After multiple deferrals and threats from my mother I finally found some time to graduate.. Doing 'Dr' in style… @QUBelfast #LoveQUB" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 July 2022 – via Twitter.
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