Inge Ryan (born 15 August 1956 in Overhalla Municipality) is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party.

Ryan was mayor of Namsskogan Municipality from 1991 to 1995, and was a member of the Parliament of Norway from 2001 to 2009, the last four years as his party's parliamentary leader.

[2] He attended Overhalla Lower Secondary School from 1969 to 1972,[1] and was during the period active in orienteering and association football as a goalie.

His close friend and Minister of Health and Care Services, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen from the Labour Party, phoned director Tove Strand at Ullevål to inquire why Ryan was not admitted to Rikshospitalet and whether he was receiving the necessary treatment.

[4] While attending secondary school, Ryan had several small jobs, including for Øyvind Johansen.

[1] He then started working as a teacher at Trones School in Namsskogan Municipality until 1987, when he was appointed principal.

[1] He started on 1 November 2009, succeeding Oddbjørn Nordset, who had been acting for Inger Lise Gjørv since 2008.

In 1989, the Socialist Left Party started a chapter in Namsskogan, and Ryan was nominated as top candidate.

The following year, Ryan was appointed as board member of the county-owned power company Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk, where he sat until 1999.

In 1996, he was appointed to the board of a government committee to grant subsidies to local stores in remote locations.

[8] Prior to the 1993 parliamentary election, Ryan was one of three nominee candidates for the Socialist Left Party's list in Nord-Trøndelag.

[11] After the nomination, Hageler stated that she regretted having said that Ryan was less suitable to sit in parliament than she was, because of his down-to-earth appeal and informal dress code.

[1] In the 2001 election, Ryan was the party's top candidate in the county, and succeeded in winning a seat.

He also was a deputy member of the European Committee and the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.

He argued that the three main industries in Namsskogan—agriculture, forestry and tourism—all had their peaks during May through October, but that it was difficult to get sufficient work-force during this period because people were on holiday.

The Socialist Left Party used Namsskogan during the 1995 election as their prime example for how they wanted to modernize the public sector.

Ryan represented the branch of the party that was opposed to the Norwegian participation in the war, and was appointed to supplement the Kristin Halvorsen and Øystein Djupedal, who were both in favor of the bombings.

[23] After being elected, Ryan worked to establish public service offices, and wanted to force state agencies to participate in these.