John Barry is one of two co-chairs of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, which is a regional council of the all island Green Party formed in December 2006. Barry studied at University College Dublin and the University of Glasgow before becoming a lecturer at Keele University. In 2000, he moved to work at Queen's University Belfast. In January 2003, he was elected as joint leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, a position he still holds alongside Kelly Andrews. He stood unsuccessfully in North Down at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2003. He also stood in the Holywood ward for the local elections in 2005 and narrowly missed being elected.