Central (District Electoral Area) Explained

Central was one of the four district electoral areas in Craigavon, Northern Ireland which existed from 1985 to 2014. The district elected seven members to Craigavon Borough Council, and formed part of the Upper Bann constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly and UK Parliament.

It was created for the 1985 local elections, replacing Craigavon Area C which had existed since 1973, and contained the wards of Bleary, Drumgask, Drumgor, Edenderry, Kernan, Killycomain and Tullygally. It was abolished for the 2014 local elections and replaced with the Craigavon DEA with areas also moving into the Portadown DEA.

Demography

On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Craigavon District Electoral Area was 25,287 accounting for 1.40% of the NI total.^[1]

• 96.92% were from the white (including Irish Traveller) ethnic group;
• 49.12% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic Christian church and 44.12% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' churches; and
• 46.47% indicated that they had a British national identity, 25.04% had an Irish national identity and 29.72% had a Northern Irish national identity.

Respondents could indicate more than one national identity On Census Day 27 March 2011, in Craigavon District Electoral Area, considering the population aged 3 years old and over:

• 10.17% had some knowledge of Irish;
• 4.83% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots; and
• 6.95% did not have English as their first language.

Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, Craigavon hosted many families of Refugees of the Vietnam War.^[2]

Councillors

Election	Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)		Councillor (Party)
2011		Mark O'Dowd (Sinn Féin)		Tommy O'Connor (Sinn Féin)		Michael Dixon (Alliance)		Kenneth Twyble (UUP)		Ronald Harkness (UUP)		Robert Smith (DUP)		William Smith (DUP)
2005		John O'Dowd (Sinn Féin)		Kieran Corr (SDLP)		Philip Weir (DUP)
2001		Francis Murray (Sinn Féin)				Patricia Mallon (SDLP)				Frederick Crowe (UUP)
1997				Sean Hagan (Alliance)								Samuel McCammick (UUP)		William Allen (DUP)
1993		Brendan Curran (Sinn Féin)
1989		Elizabeth McClurg (UUP)				James Daly (SDLP)		Pauline Lindsay (UUP)						David Calvin (DUP)
1985		William Smith (DUP)		Tom French (Workers' Party)		Brid Rodgers (SDLP)		Cyril McLoughlin (UUP)		Mary Simpson (UUP)				Robert Dodds (DUP)

2011 Election

2005: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

2011: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

2005-2011 Change: Sinn Féin and Alliance gain from SDLP and DUP

2005 Election

2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin

2005: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x SDLP

2001–2005 Change: DUP gain from SDLP

2001 Election

1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Sinn Féin

1997-2001 Change: DUP and SDLP gain from UUP and Alliance

1997 Election

1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

1993-1997 Change: No change

1993 Election

1989: 4 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Sinn Féin, 1 x Alliance

1989-1993 Change: Sinn Féin gain from UUP

1989 Election

1985: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Workers' Party

1989: 4 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance

1985-1989 Change: UUP and Alliance gain from DUP and Workers' Party

1985 Election

1985: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Workers' Party

Notes and References

1. Web site: Census 2011 Population Statistics for Craigavon District Electoral Area . NINIS . 21 December 2019. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
2. News: Boat people. Julie. McCullough. BBC News. 5 March 2014.