Danny Kinahan

Daniel de Burgh Kinahan (born 14 April 1958) is a British army officer and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, serving as Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland since 2020.

Kinahan was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2015 to 2017.

Additionally, Kinahan was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 2009 to 2015.

Early life and personal life
He is the son of Sir Robin Kinahan and Coralie de Burgh and was educated at Craigflower Preparatory School (Torryburn), Stowe School and the University of Edinburgh. He is a cousin of singer Chris de Burgh. Professionally, Kinahan is an antiques expert and worked as Christie's auctioneers' Irish representative.

He lived for many years with his wife and four children at Castle Upton, Templepatrick but in 2016 announced he was selling the family home to downsize following the moving out of his children.

Northern Ireland Assembly
In 2005 he was elected to Antrim Borough Council, and on 28 May 2009 the UUP South Antrim branch selected Kinahan to replace the outgoing MLA David Burnside who resigned to pursue business interests. Burnside officially stood down on 1 June. Kinahan was sworn in on 9 June.

Kinahan faced his first NI Assembly election in May 2011 and was elected with 3,445 first preference votes. During his second period in Stormont, he was heavily involved in education legislation as the UUP's spokesperson on the policy area.

As Deputy Chair of the Education Committee, Kinahan became a leading figure during the passage of the Education Bill. He also opposed the Sinn Féin policy of scrapping grammar schools, arguing instead for academic capability streaming.

Kinahan also expressed strong support in favour of shared and integrated education, greater emphasis on STEM subjects, a wider selection of apprenticeships, stronger provision of careers advice and more thorough and engaging university degrees.

Kinahan was the only UUP MLA to support legalising same-sex marriage, making a speech on the issue at Stormont, which many deemed risky just weeks out from the Westminster election, which he eventually won.

He stepped down from the NI Assembly after his election to Westminster and was replaced by Adrian Cochrane-Watson.

Westminster MP
The UUP decided to run Kinahan in the 2015 general election, and he ousted the incumbent Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP William McCrea with a majority of 949. However, Kinahan lost his seat in the 2017 election following a resurgence of the DUP, with Paul Girvan winning by 3,208 votes.

During the 2019 snap election, Kinahan stood again in South Antrim for the Ulster Unionist Party, but was unsuccessful in getting elected.

Post-parliamentary career
In August 2020, he was appointed Northern Ireland's first Veterans Commissioner.