Paul Butler is a republican politician in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 and a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

. He served as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

 for Lagan Valley

Lagan Valley (Assembly constituency)

Lagan Valley is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996. Since 1998, it has elected members to the current Assembly....

 from 2007–11.

Lisburn City Council

Paul Butler is the leader of the Sinn Féin group on Lisburn City Council

Lisburn City Council

Lisburn City Council is a district council covering an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. The council is the second largest in the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Council headquarters are in the city of Lisburn, upon which was conferred city status in May 2002 as...

. The party currently holds four seats on the council, making it the third party and the largest nationalist party.
Butler has a served as a Councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

 for Lisburn City Council since 1997 and is a member of their Strategic Policy, Planning and Finance Committees. Butler claims he campaigns against discrimination on the council, culminating in the Irish Government sending a representative to witness council proceedings. Nationalists claim that the unionist majority on the council has prevented nationalists from taking council positions. Butler campaigned for the town to gain city status which was bestowed on the City by the British Monarch.

Westminster elections

Butler stood in the UK general elections in 2001 and 2005 in the Lagan Valley constituency but was not elected. In the 2005 general election, Sinn Féin became got the largest share of the vote by a nationalist party, overtaking the SDLP.

Results of the election to the Northern Irish Assembly, Lagan Valley, 2003

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Party		Candidate	1st Pref	Result
Jeffrey Donaldson Jeffrey Donaldson Jeffrey Mark Donaldson, MP is a Northern Irish politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley belonging to the Democratic Unionist Party...	14,104	Elected
Edwin Poots Edwin Poots Alderman Edwin Poots MLA is a Northern Irish politician and a Democratic Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley. He is one of three DUP MLAs for Lagan Valley.-Biography:...	5,175	Elected
Seamus Close Seamus Close Seamus Close OBE is a Northern Ireland politician, former member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley and a former deputy leader of the Alliance Party....	4,408	Elected
Andrew Hunter Andrew Hunter Andrew Hunter may refer to:*Andrew Hunter , Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland*Andrew Hunter , British politician and a member of the Orange Order...	3,300	Not Elected
Paul Butler	3,242	Not Elected
Patricia Lewsley Patricia Lewsley Patricia Lewsley is the current Commissioner for Children and Young People for Northern Ireland. She was previously a member of the Northern Irish Assembly for Lagan Valley, and a councillor in Lisburn City Council.... *	3,133	Elected
Billy Bell Billy Bell (politician) William Bradshaw "Billy" Bell, OBE, JP is an Unionist politician from Northern Ireland and former Lord Mayor of Belfast.He served as a Councillor on Belfast City Council from 1976 to 1985 and was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1979 to 1980...	2,782	Elected
Ivan Davis Ivan Davis Ivan Roy Davis, Jr. , is an American classical pianist.-The Early Years:Davis received his Bachelor of Music in 1952 from University of North Texas College of Music, and an Artist's Diploma, as a Fulbright Scholar, from the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome...	2,223	Not elected
Norah Beare Norah Beare Norah Beare was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley.She was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party candidate in the Assembly election of 2003; however, she defected to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2004 along with Jeffrey Donaldson MP, MLA for Lagan Valley and Arlene...	1,508	Elected
Jim Kirkpatrick	675	Not elected
Joanne Johnston	395	Not elected
Andrew Park	212	Not elected
Frances McCarthy	97	Not elected

• Patricia Lewsley was appointed as Children's Commissioner and was replaced as an MLA by Marietta Farrell

Results of the election to the Northern Irish Assembly, Lagan Valley, 2007

Butler became the first Sinn Féin member for Lagan Valley in the Northern Irish Assembly. He won the SDLP seat previously held by Patricia Lewsley and subsequently Marietta Farrell. Butler was the only nationalist elected in the six-seater constituency.
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Party		Candidate	1st Pref	Result	Count
Jeffrey Donaldson Jeffrey Donaldson Jeffrey Mark Donaldson, MP is a Northern Irish politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley belonging to the Democratic Unionist Party...	9,793	Elected	1
Paul Butler	5,098	Elected	6
Basil McCrea Basil McCrea Basil McCrea MLA is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland. He was elected in 2007 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Ulster Unionist Party member for Lagan Valley. He unsuccessfully contested the 2005 UK General Election in Lagan Valley for the UUP...	4,031	Elected	7
Trevor Lunn Trevor Lunn Trevor Lunn is an Alliance Party politician in Northern Ireland.He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for Lagan Valley in the 2007 assembly election. Mr. Lunn took over the Alliance candidacy for Lagan Valley from Seamus Close, the long time representative for the area...	3,765	Elected	7
Jonathan Craig Jonathan Craig Jonathan Craig MLA is a unionist politician in Northern Ireland. He was elected in 2007 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Democratic Unionist Party member for Lagan Valley and re-elected at the 2011 election....	3,471	Elected	8
Edwin Poots Edwin Poots Alderman Edwin Poots MLA is a Northern Irish politician and a Democratic Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley. He is one of three DUP MLAs for Lagan Valley.-Biography:...	3,457	Elected	9
Paul Given	3,377	Not elected	9
Marietta Farrell	2,839	Not elected	5
Billy Bell Billy Bell (politician) William Bradshaw "Billy" Bell, OBE, JP is an Unionist politician from Northern Ireland and former Lord Mayor of Belfast.He served as a Councillor on Belfast City Council from 1976 to 1985 and was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1979 to 1980...	2,599	Not elected	6
Ronnie Crawford	1,147	Not elected	4
Michael Rogan	922	Not elected	4
Robert McCartney Robert McCartney (politician) Robert Law McCartney QC is a Northern Ireland barrister and former leader of the UK Unionist Party.He was initially a member of the Ulster Unionist Party but was expelled in June 1987 when he refused to withdraw from the general election of that year...	853	Not elected	3
Neil Johnston	387	Not elected	2
John Magee	83	Not elected	2