Durkan's advisor Callaghan selected to replace him

Mr Durkan is stepping down as an MLA to concentrate on his role as an MP in line with the party policy of ending the dual mandate.

His 33-year-old replacement who has worked as an Assistant to Mr Durkan for more than three years in his Derry office having previously worked for John Hume MP MEP in his Bayview Terrace office said he was up to the job.

Mr Callaghan said: "We know the people of Derry are hungry for change and as a new representative I can help build a newly energised SDLP to deliver it.

"I want to lead a new wave of SDLP politics to build a better Derry and shape a better Ireland, in the same way that John Hume and Mark Durkan did before me.

"Given the lengthy achievements by Mark in the Assembly I am well aware of the huge responsibility I have to the people of Derry and the party as I step into his shoes.

"I am in no doubt this will be a hard-fought election ahead. It will be the first to a functioning Assembly and will be dominated by the issues it decides – including jobs, spending priorities, housing, education crime and health.

"I aim to be an SDLP representative who will present a strong case on these issues in Derry and at regional level."

The Letterkenny man has a first class law degree from Queen's University Belfast as well as a degree in Politics and European Studies.

As a law student, he received the Lord Lowry Prize for European Law. He also spent a year studying business in the United States (on BEI scholarship).

He was elected in 1999 as Education Officer of Queen's Students' Union and then elected President in 2000.

He is a former Chairperson of the Queens Branch of the SDLP and the current Chairperson of the Northlands Branch in Derry, the largest in the city.

He has worked in Dil ireann as a Special Advisor to a Parliamentary Inquiry as well as in the Northern Ireland Equality Commission and in the Northern Ireland Health Service.

He has also served on the Bogside Murals Committee and is a member of the Foyle Headliners Steering Group.

He is a keen follower of gaelic football, with an interest in local history, current affairs and the Irish language.