Paul Givan

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. 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. He resigned on 4 February 2022 as part of DUP protests against the Northern Ireland Protocol. 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.