Arlene Foster

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Arlene Foster (2015)

Arlene Isabel Foster (née Kelly; born July 17, 1970 in Enniskillen , County Fermanagh , Northern Ireland ) is a politician of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). On 17 December 2015 this became the DUP chairman and January 11, 2016. First Minister ( First Minister ) elected the Northern Ireland government and was next to Martin McGuinness ( Sinn Fein ) one of the two Northern Irish Government to 9 January 2017th On January 11, 2020, she was re-elected First Minister, this time together withMichelle O'Neill (Sinn Féin).

On April 28, 2021, Foster announced her resignation as DUP chairperson on May 28, 2021 and as First Minister for the end of June 2021. The day before, a large number of DUP MPs had expressed their distrust in an internal letter. On June 14, 2021, she gave up her post as head of government.

biography

Foster was born into a Protestant Northern Irish family. As a child, she witnessed the violence in Northern Ireland up close. Her father, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, was shot in the head one day in an IRA assassination attempt . The family then had to move to another area. As a teenager, Foster survived an IRA bomb attack on the school bus in 1988 aimed at the bus driver, a member of the British Army.

She attended school in Enniskillen from 1982 to 1989 and then studied law at Queen's University Belfast . Since graduating, she has worked as a solicitor . During her studies she became politically active, joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and was elected to various party offices.

Just a few weeks after the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election , in which Foster won a seat under the UUP party flag in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency , she resigned on December 18, 2003, along with her two party colleagues Jeffrey Donaldson and Norah Beare von allen UUP, and on January 5, 2004, became a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the other major unionist party in Northern Ireland. The reasons for the change of party were dissatisfaction with the course of the UUP under party leader David Trimble .

Since 2007, Arlene Foster has held various ministerial posts in the Northern Irish government: from May 8, 2007 to June 9, 2008 as Environment Minister, from June 9, 2008 to May 4, 2011, and from May 16, 2011 to May 11, 2015 as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment and since May 11, 2015 Minister of Finance. When the First Minister Peter Robinson temporarily resigned from January 11 to February 3, 2010 because of a scandal over the alleged unlawful allocation of funding, she temporarily took over his office during this time.

After First Minister Peter Robinson resigned due to disputes with the Irish Republican parties, Foster succeeded First Minister on September 10, 2015. Foster's remaining as the only DUP politician in the Northern Irish regional government was justified by the fact that Sinn Féin and the SDLP should not be allowed to take on the important finance department and the office of First Minister. Her predecessor Peter Robinson resumed his work as First Minister on October 20, 2015. One month later, on November 19, 2015, he announced his resignation from the post of First Minister and the post of DUP chairman for health reasons. The DUP elected Arlene Foster as the new party leader on December 17, 2015. Since January 11, 2016, she has also been First Minister of the Northern Irish Regional Government, succeeding Peter Robinson .

Scandal about the promotion of renewable energies

In 2016, a scandal developed over the so-called Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI, “Incentive to use renewable energies”, also referred to in the press as “ Cash for Ash ”). In 2012, the then government of Northern Ireland launched an initiative to encourage homeowners to use financial incentives to switch their heating systems from fossil fuels to renewable energies . Arlene Foster was Minister responsible for this program at the time. However, it later became apparent that the program had not been carefully thought out. Above all, the fact that the subsidy paid out to heating operators was higher than the heating costs incurred - the more you heated, the more subsidies you received - was guaranteed for a period of 20 years and was not capped . For example, homeowners who previously had no heating at all could have the installation of a heater completely financed by the taxpayer. Even more serious, however, were the cases in which partly vacant commercial and agricultural properties were heated all year round. Whistleblowers reported cases in which property owners calculated profits of 1 to 1.5 million pounds from the installation and year-round operation of a heating system in a vacant property or property that did not require heating for the 20-year funding period . The most serious cases are to be dealt with under criminal law. Experts assumed that RHI would cost taxpayers in Northern Ireland up to £ 20 million annually over the next 20 years; however, there were also lower and higher estimates. Jonathan Bell, a former DUP party colleague of Arlene Foster, made serious allegations in December 2016, especially against the First Minister. At the time, the Northern Irish government ignored all advisory warnings. The parties SDLP and UUP , which have not been involved in the Northern Irish government since the 2016 election , then demanded Foster's resignation, which the latter refused. On January 9, 2017, Foster's deputy Martin McGuinness ( Sinn Féin ) resigned from his government office, justifying this with the RNH scandal.

Developments in 2017

As a result of the resignation of the Sinn Féin ministers, there was a new election of the regional parliament on March 2, 2017, in which the DUP under Arlene Foster suffered significant losses, but was still the strongest party. In the general election on June 8, 2017 , however, the DUP achieved its best result in party's history in all-British elections and won 10 of the 18 constituencies of Northern Ireland, thereby consolidating Foster's position again. Following the election, negotiations between the DUP and the British Conservative Party over the tolerance of a conservative minority government in Westminster by the DUP took place.

Foster prevented her DUP early December 2017 the negotiations on the withdrawal from the EU of the United Kingdom between Prime Minister Theresa May and the European Union in the short term in a conference call one actually already agreed special status for Northern Ireland, the free movement of goods and people between Ireland and Northern Ireland maintained, but provided controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Foster refused to approve because only Northern Ireland could be treated equally with the rest of the United Kingdom for her party.

Developments after 2017 and resignation

After the UK left the EU, the DUP was exposed to considerable tensions. In particular, the Northern Ireland Protocol, which came into force on January 1, 2021, was controversial in the party and its electorate. Under this agreement, additional controls were provided for certain goods imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom in the Northern Irish ports. Opponents of the agreement argued that it would create a quasi-invisible customs border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. However, Foster, who opposed this protocol, was unable to assert herself against the Boris Johnson administration on this issue. Foster was also viewed by her critics as "too weak" or too liberal on other issues. For example, her abstention from the vote on a ban on conversion therapy was criticized (the majority of the DUP voted against), as was her approval of the liberalization of the very restrictive Northern Irish abortion law. Their support for the Irish language Act , which provided increased funding and official status for the Irish language , also met with criticism.

On April 27, 2021, a paper went public in which Foster was suspicious. It was signed by 20 of the 28 DUP MPs in Stormont and four of the eight DUP MPs . Foster anticipated her being voted out by declaring her resignation as DUP Chair on May 28, 2021 and as First Minister at the end of June 2021. She gave up the post of head of government on June 14th. Her party nominated Paul Givan as his successor .

Personal

Arlene Foster is married and has three children.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arlene Foster: Full statement of resignation , irishtimes.com, published and accessed April 28, 2021.
  2. ↑ Arlene Foster to step down as DUP leader and First Minister , rte.ie, published and accessed April 28, 2021.
  3. ↑ Arlene Foster - Profiles. BBC News, January 11, 2010, accessed September 11, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b Arlene Foster MLA. Retrieved on September 11, 2015 (English, biography on the DUP website).
  5. ↑ Mrs. Arlene Foster. Northern Ireland Assembly, accessed September 11, 2015 .
  6. ^ NI first minister Peter Robinson steps aside in Stormont crisis. BBC News, September 10, 2015, accessed September 10, 2015 .
  7. ^ DUP ministers resume Northern Ireland Executive posts. BBC News, October 20, 2015, accessed November 26, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Arlene Foster set to be first woman elected as leader of DUP. BBC News, December 17, 2015, accessed December 17, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Need-to-know guide: Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme . In: BBC News . November 7, 2017 ( bbc.com [accessed April 29, 2021]).
  10. ^ RHI scandal: Pressure mounts for RHI public inquiry. BBC News, December 16, 2016, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  11. ^ Deputy First Minister McGuinness to resign. BBC News, January 9, 2017, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  12. ^ Tory chief whip in Belfast talks with DUP. BBC News, June 10, 2017, accessed June 10, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Ben Kentish: "Brexit: Theresa May plans for Irish border came as 'big shock' to DUP, says Arlene Foster" The Independent of December 5, 2017
  14. ↑ Tom Edgington, Chris Morris: Brexit: What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why are there checks? In: BBC News. March 15, 2021, accessed April 28, 2021 .
  15. ↑ a b Gareth Gordon: Arlene Foster: Removal of DUP leader is total mess, says party source. In: BBC News. April 29, 2021, accessed April 29, 2021 .
  16. ^ Explainer: What is the Irish Language Act and why is it causing political deadlock in Northern Ireland? In: thejournal.ie. February 14, 2018, accessed April 29, 2021 .
  17. ^ Arlene Foster urges NI parties to stick to language deal. BBC News , June 14, 2021, accessed the same day.
  18. ↑ Paul Givan becomes the new head of government for Northern Ireland. Der Spiegel , June 8, 2021, accessed on the same day.
personal data
SURNAME Foster, Arlene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Foster, Arlene Isabel (full name); Kelly, Arlene (maiden name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Northern Irish politician (DUP), member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
DATE OF BIRTH 17th July 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH County Fermanagh , Northern Ireland