Edwin Poots

Infobox Politician | name=Edwin Poots MLA


width=144px
office = Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure
term_start = May 8, 2007
term_end = June 9, 2008
predecessor= Michael McGimpsey
successor=Gregory Campbell
constituency_AM2= Lagan Valley
assembly2=Northern Ireland
birth_date=1965
birth_place=Northern Ireland
party=Democratic Unionist Party
spouse=
website=http://www.dup.org.uk/EdwinPoots.asp

Alderman Edwin Poots MLA (b. 1965) is a Northern Irish politician and a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley. He is one of three DUP MLAs for Lagan Valley.

Poots was born in 1965 and was educated at the Wallace High School, Lisburn, and then Greenmount Agricultural College. He is married with four children. He is a farmer and serves on Lisburn City Council. His father, Charles Poots was also a DUP politician, having stood in the 1969 Northern Ireland General Election for the Protestant Unionist Party.

Poots was a member of the Environment Committee and chaired the Committee of the Centre (i.e. Committee for the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers) in the 1998-2003 Assembly. On 8 May, 2007, he was appointed Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure in the Northern Ireland Executive, a post he held until 9 June, 2008, when a cabinet re-shuffle saw this post being reassigned to Gregory Campbell. It has been speculated that he was removed as Minister for Culture due to his support of the Maze stadium proposals [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7444742.stm BBC: Poots dropped as culture minister] ] . He was subsequently made Deputy Mayor of Lisburn on June 23rd [http://www.lisburncity.gov.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/?id=503]

Poots is a young earth creationist and an opponent of the theory of evolution. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2007/12/are_religious_politicians_nutt.html BBC Northern Ireland William Crawley's blog] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.dcalni.gov.uk Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure]