Eileen Bell is new Assembly speaker

The next Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly will be former Alliance Party deputy leader, Eileen Bell, the British government announced today.

During a trade mission to India, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, said Mrs Bell was qualified for the post.

“I am delighted that Eileen has agreed to take up the post,” he said in New Delhi.

“Eileen is hugely respected across the political and community divide in Northern Ireland.

“She gets on with everyone and brings a wealth of experience to the post.

“I am very pleased that she has agreed to take up this very important post of Presiding Officer. I am sure she will do a good job.”

Mrs Bell was a member of the last Assembly and has represented North Down at Stormont since 1998. She was the deputy leader of the cross community Alliance Party from June 2001 until she quit the post recently to make way for East Belfast MLA Naomi Long.

Mrs Bell will be the first woman speaker of the Assembly and succeeds former Alliance leader Lord Alderdice.

Mrs Bell is a former civil servant and a Peace People activist.

She was born in Dromara in Co Down and grew up in Belfast.

Mr Hain said she was taking over as the Presiding Officer at Stormont on May 15 at a crucial time in Northern Ireland politics.

Stormont’s 108 Assembly members will be asked on May 15 to try to form a power-sharing executive involving unionists and nationalists, including Sinn Féin.

“This is a crucial period for Northern Ireland politicians,” Mr Hain said.

“They must decide if they want to work in a democratically elected and accountable Assembly or do they want to remain outside unable to make decisions on behalf of those people they represent.”