Paul Givan

Paul Givan
MLA
Paul Givan MLA
	Givan in 2012
Minister of Education
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 3 February 2024
First Minister	Michelle O'Neill
Preceded by	Michelle McIlveen (2022)
Member of the Legislative Assembly; for Lagan Valley
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 14 June 2010
Preceded by	Jeffrey Donaldson
Preceded by
Office history
First Minister of Northern Ireland
	In office; 17 June 2021 – 4 February 2022 Serving with Michelle O'Neill
Preceded by	Arlene Foster
Succeeded by	Michelle O'Neill (2024)
Minister for Communities
	In office; 25 May 2016 – 26 January 2017
First Minister	Arlene Foster
Preceded by	Lord Morrow
Succeeded by	Deirdre Hargey (2020)
Deputy
Committee history
Chair of the Committee for Justice
	In office; 14 January 2020 – 14 June 2021
Deputy	Linda Dillon
Preceded by	Paul Frew (2017)
Succeeded by	Mervyn Storey
	In office; 16 May 2011 – 19 December 2014
Deputy	Raymond McCartney
Preceded by	Lord Morrow
Succeeded by	Alastair Ross
Chair of the Committee of Standards and Privileges
	In office; 28 September 2015 – 30 March 2016
Deputy	Anna Lo
Preceded by	Jimmy Spratt
Succeeded by	Cathal Boylan
Personal details
Born	Paul Jonathan Givan; 12 October 1981 (age 42); Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Political party	Democratic Unionist Party
Spouse	Emma Givan
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Ulster

Paul Jonathan Givan (born 12 October 1981) is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he has served as Minister of Education since 3 February 2024.^[1] Givan has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley since 2010.

Givan became First Minister on 17 June 2021, becoming the youngest person to hold that office.^[2]^[3]^[4] He resigned on 4 February 2022 as part of DUP protests against the Northern Ireland Protocol.^[4]^[5] From 2016 to 2017, Givan served as the Minister for Communities in the Northern Ireland Executive under First Minister Arlene Foster.

Givan has been associated with socially conservative views and has been described as being on the Paisleyite right wing of the DUP.^[6]

^ "Stormont: Michelle O'Neill makes history as nationalist first minister". BBC News. 3 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
^ Kearney, Vincent (17 June 2021). "Givan, O'Neill installed as NI First and Deputy First Ministers". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
^ "Paul Givan resigns as NI First Minister". rte.ie. RTÉ News. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b Carrol, Rory (17 June 2021). "Northern Ireland: Paul Givan becomes first minister after Irish language deal". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
^ Young, David; McCambridge, Jonathan; Ryan, Philip (3 January 2022). "DUP's Paul Givan resigns as Northern Ireland first minister, as Taoiseach brands it 'very damaging move'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
^ Gordon, Gareth (8 June 2021). "Paul Givan: How will the new first minister handle the top job?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.