Alasdair McDonnell was born in Cushendall, Co. Antrim in 1949. Today he lives in the South Belfast constituency which he serves as MP. He is married to Olivia and they have four children, two sons Ruairi (9) and Oisin (7) and two daughters Dearbhla (10) and Aileen (4). He received his medical training at UCD - University College Dublin which recently awarded him an Honorary Fellowship of the School of Medicine and Medical Sciences.

Although underage, he stood as a Parliamentary candidate in North Antrim in 1970 against the Rev. Ian Paisely. His political career proper kicked off in 1977, when he was elected to Belfast City Council where he served as a local Councillor until he stepped down to focus on the Assembly in 2001. During his time as a Councillor he was also elected as Deputy Mayor of Belfast, a post he held from 1995 - 1996. In 1998 he became a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, which he remains to date. From 2004 to 2010 he was Deputy Leader of the SDLP and in 2005, was elected as the Westminster Member of Parliament for South Belfast. Alasdair is the SDLP Spokesperson on the Economy.