Catherine Nelson

Catherine Nelson (born Catherine Seeley; 26 November 1987) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and schoolteacher, serving as an Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon councillor for the Craigavon DEA since 2019.

Nelson was previously a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from the 2016 to 2017.

Background Previously a schoolteacher at the non-denominational Belfast Boys' Model School, she resigned after allegedly enduring a campaign of harassment, which began after she was co-opted as a Sinn Féin councillor on Craigavon Borough Council in 2014. The Protestant Coalition opposed her employment at the school over her affiliation with Sinn Féin.

At the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election, she was elected as one of two Sinn Fein representatives for the Upper Bann constituency.

On 16 January 2017, it was announced she would not seeking re-election at the 2017 assembly election and would return to work as a schoolteacher.

In 2018, she was co-opted as a councillor onto Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.