Nigel Dodds OBE MP MLA
Nigel Dodds was appointed as the Minister for the Department of Finance & Personnel in the Northern Ireland Executive on 09 June 2008.
Mr Dodds was born in Londonderry on 20th August 1958. He was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen and St. John's College, Cambridge. After being called to the Northern Ireland Bar in 1981, Mr Dodds practised as a barrister until 1983. He worked in the European Parliament Secretariat from 1984 to 1996 and was also a member of the Queen's University Senate from 1985 to 1990. In 1997, Mr Dodds was awarded the OBE for services to local government.
Mr Dodds was elected to Belfast City Council in 1985 for the Castle area in the north of the city and served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1988 and 1991. He became DUP Party Secretary in 1993, was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 and topped the poll in North Belfast at the 1998, 2003 and 2007 Assembly elections. Mr Dodds has been MP for North Belfast since the 2001 General Election. At Westminster he is the DUP Chief Whip and Party spokesman for Treasury matters, Work and Pensions and the Business of the House. In the last Assembly, Mr Dodds served as Minister for Social Development from 1999 to 2000 and then again from 2001 until 2002 when the Assembly was suspended.
Mr Dodds served as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment from May 2007 to June 2008, when he was appointed Minister for Finance and Personnel.
