Roy Beggs Jr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council | |
| Assumed office 18 May 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Keith Turner |
| Constituency | Larne Lough |
| Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
| In office 11 January 2020 – 31 May 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Danny Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | John Blair (2024) |
| In office 12 May 2011 – 30 March 2016 | |
| Preceded by | David McClarty |
| Succeeded by | Danny Kennedy |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Antrim | |
| In office 25 June 1998 – 27 March 2022 | |
| Preceded by | New Creation |
| Succeeded by | Danny Donnelly |
| Member of Carrickfergus Borough Council | |
| In office 7 June 2001 – 5 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Reid |
| Succeeded by | John Stewart |
| Constituency | Knockagh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 July 1962 Glenoe, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Spouse | Sandra Beggs |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence(s) | Glenoe, County Antrim |
| Alma mater | Queen's University of Belfast |
| Profession | Engineer |
| Website | Official webpage |
Roy Beggs Jr (born 3 July 1962) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, serving as a Mid and East Antrim Councillor for the Larne Lough DEA since 2023. Beggs served as a Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2011 to 2016, and 2020 to 2022. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2022.
Beggs is the son of the politician Roy Beggs, who was the UUP Member of Parliament (MP) for East Antrim from 1983 to 2005.[1]
He served as a local councillor on Carrickfergus Borough Council from 2001 to 2011. During this period he had been elected as Chairman of the District Policing Partnership and vice-chairman of the Local Strategic Partnership and of the Community Safety Partnership.[2]
In 2011 Beggs was elected as a Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He served as a member of the Assembly's Social Development Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Health Committee, Environment Committee, Finance Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Agriculture Committee and Regional Development Committee. He is the Ulster Unionist Party spokesperson on Social Development.
In 2003, Beggs succeeded in having Irish rebel music removed from the in-flight entertainment of Aer Lingus airplanes. He complained of the "blatant promotion of militant, armed republicanism" on a music channel during a flight from Dublin to Boston after seeing that Derek Warfield had a radio channel dedicated to his music. Beggs, it was the same as "the speeches of Osama Bin Laden being played on a trans-Atlantic Arabian airline."[3]
Aer Lingus removed the material from their flights stating: "It is something that should not have been on board and we removed it immediately we became aware of it."[4]
He lost his seat in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.[5]
In the 2023 local elections, he was elected onto Mid and East Antrim Borough Council as his party’s representative for the Larne Lough District.
Beggs Jr had successfully contested every election to the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 until he lost his seat to the Alliance Party in 2022. In 1998 Beggs Jr polled 16.1% of the popular vote; 16.7% in 2003; and 10.2% in 2007. Beggs Jr topped the poll in 1998 and 2003 and the UUP returned two candidates.[6]