Nuala O'Loan

Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, DBE (born 20 December 1951), known between 2007 and 2009 as Dame Nuala O'Loan, is a noted public figure in Northern Ireland. She was the first Police Ombudsman from 1999 to 2007. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords. Consequently, she was elevated to the peerage in September 2009. In December 2010, National University of Ireland, Maynooth appointed her as Chairman of its Governing Authority. She is a columnist with The Irish Catholic.

O'Loan was born and educated in Hertfordshire, England, one of eight siblings. She studied law at King's College London, graduating in 1973, and became a law lecturer in Northern Ireland. In 1977 she survived an IRA bombing at Ulster Polytechnic, Jordanstown, while pregnant; she lost the baby as a result.

She is married to Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillor and former North Antrim MLA, Declan O'Loan; they have five sons. One of her sons, Damian, was badly beaten up in the Oldpark section of North Belfast. The attack, in June 2006, required him to receive hospital treatment. The motive for the attack has not yet been established. She was a voluntary marriage counsellor, working particularly to prepare young people from different religions who are getting married.

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