Dermot Nesbitt

Dermot Nesbitt
Dermot Nesbitt
Minister of the Environment
	In office; 20 February 2002 – 15 October 2002
Preceded by	Sam Foster
Succeeded by	Arlene Foster
Member of the Legislative Assembly; for South Down
	In office; 25 June 1998 – 7 March 2007
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	John McCallister
Personal details
Born	14 August 1947; Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Political party	Ulster Unionist Party
Spouse(s)	Oriel Nesbitt (m.1970-present)
Children	2
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Profession	Economist, academic

Dermot Nesbitt (born 14 August 1947) is a politician from Northern Ireland.

Nesbitt was educated at Down High School and later studied economics at Queens University Belfast and joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). He was the election agent for Brian Faulkner from 1973–77, most of this period spent as a member of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland. Nesbitt worked as a lecturer at Queens and by 1981 he had rejoined the UUP, being elected to Down District Council. He held this seat until 1989.

Nesbitt was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for South Down in 1996, and held this seat on the Northern Ireland Assembly at the 1998 and 2003 elections.

Nesbitt was a junior minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 until 2002, when he took up the post of Minister of the Environment. He retired in 2007, and party colleague John McCallister retained a UUP seat in the South Down constituency. At the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections, Nesbitt stood unsuccessfully for the Westminster seat of South Down. He currently works as a lecturer in finance at QUB and has lived in Crossgar for most of his life.

In mid-morning on 7 December 1983, while chatting to UUP party and Queen's colleague Edgar Graham at the University Square side of the main campus library, Graham (aged 29) was shot in the head a number of times by an IRA gunman and died almost instantly. Two persons were later convicted of withholding evidence from the police, but no one was ever convicted for Graham's murder.[1]

References

PROTESTANT PARTY LEADER SLAIN IN ULSTER, The New York Times, 8 December 1983.
NORTHERN IRELAND, Terrorist Activities, reports of British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland's office, in answer to questions: 16 April 1999. The government account reads:
"Mr. Edgar Graham: At approximately 10.50 am on 7 December 1983, at University Square, Belfast, Mr. Graham was shot dead. The murder was claimed by the Irish Republican Army. RUC investigations resulted in one person being convicted of making property available and withholding information and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 3 years. Another person, convicted of withholding information, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for 2 years. A number of other persons were arrested and interviewed in relation to this murder but released without charge."

Northern Ireland Forum
New forum	Member for South Down 1996–1998	Forum dissolved
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly	MLA for Down South 1998–2007	Succeeded by John McCallister
Political offices
New office	Junior Minister 1999–2000	Vacant Office suspended Title next held by self
Vacant Office suspended Title last held by self	Junior Minister 2000–2002	Succeeded by James Leslie
Preceded by Sam Foster	Minister of the Environment 2002	Vacant Office suspended Title next held by Arlene Foster

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[1] PROTESTANT PARTY LEADER SLAIN IN ULSTER, The New York Times, 8 December 1983.
NORTHERN IRELAND, Terrorist Activities, reports of British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland's office, in answer to questions: 16 April 1999. The government account reads:
"Mr. Edgar Graham: At approximately 10.50 am on 7 December 1983, at University Square, Belfast, Mr. Graham was shot dead. The murder was claimed by the Irish Republican Army. RUC investigations resulted in one person being convicted of making property available and withholding information and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 3 years. Another person, convicted of withholding information, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment suspended for 2 years. A number of other persons were arrested and interviewed in relation to this murder but released without charge."