Diane Jean Dodds, Baroness Dodds of Duncairn, MLA (born 16 August 1958),^[1] is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Northern Ireland constituency from 2009 to 2020. She previously sat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2007 as MLA for West Belfast. In 2020, Dodds returned to the Assembly as MLA for Upper Bann and is the DUP's Spokesperson for Education and Skills.^[2][3] She is married to Lord Dodds, and as such she is styled as "The Right Honourable The Lady Dodds of Duncairn".

Dodds was born into a farming family in Rathfriland, County Down, where she attended Banbridge Academy before moving on to study at Queen's University Belfast. While studying, she met her future husband and future DUP MP for North Belfast, Nigel Dodds.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Dodds was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent Belfast West. She was the first Unionist elected to a regional assembly from West Belfast in more than 20 years (the last being Thomas Passmore to the 1982-86 Assembly).^{[citation needed]} Her strongest support base during the election campaign was in the Shankill Road area of the constituency.^{[citation needed]}

Following her election to the Assembly, Dodds contested the Court District Electoral Area in the 2005 Local Government Elections. On that occasion she polled in excess of three electoral quotas and her surplus votes enabled the election of two running mates. In that election, she polled more votes than any other local government candidate in Northern Ireland.^{[citation needed]} Despite increasing her vote from the 2003 Assembly election, she narrowly lost her seat to Sinn Féin in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Dodds has also been active within Belfast City Council, where she was Chief Whip of the 14-councillor DUP group.^[4] She chaired the Policy and Resources Committee on the council and actively supported a campaign to host a homecoming parade for the Royal Irish Regiment and other armed forces returning home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.^[4]