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The Biographies (click on a name to read) Gerry Adams Gerry Adams has been the leader of Sinn Féin since 1983. A former internee of the Maze prison, Adams was elected as MP for West Belfast in that same year. He retained his seat until 1992 when he lost it to the SDLP’s candidate, Joe Hendron, regaining it in 1997. Adams was instrumental in persuading Sinn Féin into political talks in the early 1990s and led his party into the peace process resulting in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Elected to Westminster as an MP, Adams refuses to take up his seat in the House of Commons. Although elected as an MLA, he did not seek ministerial office in the new Executive Committee. Since the Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1999, Adams has continued to lead Sinn Féin and its supporters towards peaceful resolution of conflict, influencing the IRA towards verifiable decommissioning of weapons in 2001. Bertie Ahern Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was instrumental in giving the talks process the final push towards an all-party settlement in 1998. Along with PM Blair, Ahern was personally involved in the talks at Castle Buildings which led to the Good Friday Agreement. Leader of the Republic of Ireland’s Fianna Fail party, Ahern recognised the compromises necessary on the part of the Republic of Ireland if a settlement was to be acceptable to unionists. Consequently he oversaw the revoking of Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution of the Republic of Ireland, renouncing any territorial claim on its part to Northern Ireland. As the post-agreement political situation in Northern Ireland has lurched from crisis to crisis, Ahern, with Blair, has continued to intervene to try to reach a solution and keep the agreement and its institutions operative. Tony Blair Tony Blair’s place in British history is already secured as the first Labour leader to take his party to consecutive landslide election victories in 1997 and 2001 (Harold Wilson’s victories in 1964 and 1966 do not bear comparison). The rebirth of Labour had been begun by his predecessors, Neil Kinnock and John Smith, but it was Blair who quickened the pace of modernisation summed up in the unofficial title 'New Labour’. The strength of Blair’s electoral mandate gave him the leverage and confidence to add momentum to the Northern Ireland peace process, resulting in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. This, however, should be seen in the context of a set of UK-wide constitutional reforms that saw power devolved to Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland. Peter Brooke Peter Brooke was Margaret Thatcher’s fourth and, as it transpired, last appointee to the post of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, succeeding Tom King in July 1989. Brooke’s nadir during his term of office was probably the decision to join in singing 'My Darling Clementine’ on RTE’s Late Late Show just hours after he had been made aware of the death of seven Protestant workmen in an IRA bomb at Teebane crossroads near Cookstown. He privately offered to resign but was retained in his post. Brooke was succeeded by Sir Patrick Mayhew as Secretary of State after John Major led the Conservatives to their fourth consecutive general election victory in April 1992. Gregory Campbell Gregory Campbell succeeded DUP colleague Peter Robinson as Minister for Regional Development in the Northern Ireland Executive in May 2000 a practical application of the DUP’s decision to rotate ministerial office holders. Having previously represented the DUP on Derry City Council and worked in the fields of insurance and publishing, Campbell’s star was very much in the ascendant in the first NI assembly. In the general election of June 2001 he overturned a UUP majority of almost 4,000 votes in East Londonderry to defeat the sitting MP, William Ross. James Craig Craig served as Northern Ireland’s first Prime Minister from June 1921 until his death in November 1940. Previously, Craig had been active in Ulster Unionist politics as lieutenant to Sir Edward Carson throughout the pre-war Home Rule crisis and had played a critical part in the formation of unionism’s military wing, the Ulster Volunteer Force. Craig had represented East Down in the Westminster Parliament since 1906 and had served in the British army in the South African War (1899–1902) and in World War One (1914–16). He was raised to the peerage as 1st Viscount Craigavon in 1927. As Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Craig’s principal political legacy was the survival of Northern Ireland itself, which, in 1921, was far from secure. Bairbre de Brún Bairbre de Brún was Sinn Féin’s nominee as Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety in 1999. Elected as an MLA for West Belfast in 1998, de Brún held a prominent role in Sinn Féin throughout the 1990s, gaining a reputation as a tough negotiator during the talks process. Seen as a poisoned chalice’, the department of Health presented de Brún with many challenges during her tenure as Minister. She came in for criticism as waiting lists continued to grow in spite of a well-publicised goal of reducing them. The unresolved issue of the location of maternity services in Belfast overshadowed de Brún’s term in office from an early stage and her actions were seen by many to favour her own constituency rather than the whole community, as befitted her ministerial remit. De Brún also actively engaged with her Irish counterpart through the auspices of the North/South Ministerial Council, the result of which were several collaborative projects. Nigel Dodds Nigel Dodds became MP for Belfast North in the general election of June 2001 when the DUP decided to contest the UUP-held seat. The incumbent MP, Cecil Walker, had held the seat since 1983, but had not previously faced a DUP challenge. The result was that a 13,000 UUP majority was turned into a DUP majority of 6,387, Walker actually finishing in fourth place behind Sinn Féin and the SDLP. A member of Belfast City Council, and one-time Lord Mayor, Dodds is also a member the Northern Ireland Assembly and was nominated by his party to serve as the first Minister for Social Development in the new Northern Ireland Executive. Mark Durkan Mark Durkan is Deputy First Minister and leader of the SDLP. Elected as MLA for Foyle in 1998, Durkan initially held the Finance and Personnel brief within the Executive Committee. He was responsible for the first two budgets of the new administration. When Seamus Mallon resigned as Deputy First Minister in November 2001, Durkan became his successor. An active politician at a local and regional level, Durkan was generally seen as the SDLP’s 'heir apparent’ and when John Hume stood down as party leader in 2001, Durkan was elected unopposed. Sir Reg Empey Sir Reg Empey was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the Northern Ireland Executive in December 1999. A member of Belfast City Council and a former Lord Mayor (1989 and 1993), he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the constituency of Belfast East, placed third behind Peter Robinson of the DUP and John Alderdice of Alliance. Empey was a member of the UUP team that negotiated the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. Apart from his achievements as a politician, Empey is also a successful businessman, with his own clothing firm. David Ervine David Ervine is the leader of the small Progressive Unionist Party(PUP) and an MLA for East Belfast. Committed now to the peaceful resolution of conflict, Ervine had previously been a loyalist prisoner. His party aims to represent working class interests politically but retains some links to the UVF. Ervine has gained respect for his moderate language and his perceptive articulation of problems and issues. With the loss in the recent assembly elections of the PUP's second seat in the Assembly (held by Billy Hutchinson), Ervine will be a lone voice for the PUP in the legislature. Sean Farren Elected as an MLA in 1998, Sean Farren was appointed as Minister for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment. An active member of the SDLP at a local level, Farren’s profile increased when he became one of the SDLP’s delegates during the talks process. The reshuffling of ministerial briefs, as a result of Seamus Mallon’s resignation as DFM, saw Farren move to the position of Minister of Finance and Personnel. Brian Faulkner When first elected to Stormont for the constituency of East Down in 1949, Brian Faulkner, then aged 29, was the youngest member of the Northern Ireland Parliament up to that date. Serving his political apprenticeship as Chief Whip (1956–59), Minister of Home Affairs (1959–63), Minister of Commerce (1963–69), and Minister of Development (1969–71), Faulkner succeeded to the premiership in March 1971. He resigned as Prime Minister one year later, when Heath’s Conservative government decided to transfer security powers from Stormont to Whitehall. Faulkner returned briefly to power as Chief Executive of Northern Ireland’s first power-sharing administration from 1 January to 28 May 1974, his resignation prompted by the Ulster Workers Council strike. Later in the same year he founded the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, but it made little electoral impact. Faulkner retired from politics in August 1976 and died in March 1977 as the result of a horse riding accident. Sam Foster Sam Foster was chosen by David Trimble to fill the post of Minister of the Environment in the new Northern Ireland Executive which took office in December 1999. Foster had been a party activist in Fermanagh for many years, representing the UUP in the local district council, and was a leading figure in the Royal Black Institution. He was also a Trimble loyalist and that loyalty was rewarded when he became the oldest member in the Executive. In the first major reshuffle of UUP places on the Executive, Foster made way for Dermot Nesbitt. Carmel Hanna A native of Warrenpoint, Carmel Hanna’s political power base is in Belfast, having been elected to Belfast City Council in 1997. She was elected as an MLA in 1998, representing the constituency of Belfast South, and served as Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee. In December 2001 she became Minister for Employment and Learning and the SDLP’s second female minister in the Executive Committee (the other was Bríd Rodgers). She was the successor to party colleague Sean Farren who had become Minister of Finance and Personnel in the reshuffle of offices. Edward Heath Heath served as British Prime Minister from June 1970 until February 1974, a period of increasing political crisis and civil unrest in Northern Ireland. These years witnessed both the 'Bloody Sunday’ incident of 30 January 1972, when British paratroops shot dead 13 men during a Civil Rights march, and the 'Bloody Friday’ incident of 21 July 1972 when IRA bombs in Belfast killed 11 people and injured 130. Between these horrific events, Heath’s Conservative government took the decision to prorogue Stormont and introduce direct rule from Westminster in March. Edward Heath was leader of the Conservative party from 1965 until his defeat by Margaret Thatcher in the leadership election of 1975. John Hume Since his involvement in the Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s, John Hume gained a reputation both in Northern Ireland and abroad as an advocate of the democratic resolution of conflict. Recognition of this came in 1998 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with UUP leader David Trimble. As leader of the SDLP until 2001, an MP, MEP and MLA, Hume worked within Northern Ireland, the UK and further field to try to bring an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland. He initiated talks with Gerry Adams in the late 1980s, the beginning of a process that was to see Sinn Féin incorporated into democratic politics in Northern Ireland. Hume stood down as leader of the SDLP in 2001 and resigned his seat in the Assembly. In February 2004 he announced his intention to resign from the European Parliament (in June 2004) and to retire as MP for Foyle, at the next Westminster election. Martin McGuinness Martin McGuinness was one of Sinn Féin’s chief negotiators during the talks process. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and was Sinn Féin’s nominee for Minister of Education when ministerial responsibilities were being distributed in 1999. Like Adams, McGuinness has been elected as an MP to the House of Commons at Westminster and also refuses to take his seat. As Minister of Education, McGuinness won much support for his spending policies for schools, particularly school infrastructure. More controversially McGuinness addressed the issue of the Eleven Plus. He set up the Burns Commission to canvas views and opinion throughout Northern Ireland. His last act as Minister before the proroguing of the Assembly and its institutions in October 2002 was to announce the abolition of the Eleven Plus, though an alternative was not specified. Monica McWilliams Monica McWilliams is a founder member of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and was one of its two MLAs in the first Northern Ireland Assembly. The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition was founded in 1996 in advance of the all party talks, with the aim of more effectively representing the views of women in Northern Ireland, although the party is not exclusively feminist in its ethos. A professor of Women’s Studies and Social Policy, McWilliams worked to widen the political agenda in Northern Ireland, seeking to focus more on socio-economic rather than sectarian issues. During the talks process she advocated a structure in which delegates from all areas of life in Northern Ireland could play a role, the result of which was the Civic Forum. McWilliams and Jane Morrice both lost their seats in the November 2003 election. John Major Major succeeded Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister and Conservative party leader in November 1990, having previously served under Thatcher as Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. During his premiership, Major was joint sponsor, with the Irish premier John Bruton, of the Frameworks documents in February 1995. This political initiative came in the wake of the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires announced on 31 August and 13 October 1994 respectively. The IRA ceasefire ended on 9 February 1996 when a bomb was detonated at Canary Wharf in London, killing two people. Fifteen months later, on 1 May 1997, Major was ousted from office by a landslide Labour election victory. Seamus Mallon As MP for Newry and Armagh, Seamus Mallon has sat at Westminster since 1986. Following his election as an MLA in 1998, he took the position of Deputy First Minister in the new Northern Ireland Executive Committee. When necessary, Mallon was not afraid to take a tough stance with both unionists and republicans if he viewed them as obstructing further development in the talks process. He was prepared at times to risk his relationship with the First Minister, David Trimble, especially when Trimble banned Sinn Féin from participating in NSMC meetings. He resigned his post in autumn 2001. Sir Patrick Mayhew Former Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew was the man chosen by John Major to replace Peter Brooke as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, following the Conservatives’ election victory in April 1992. It was during Mayhew’s term of office that the Observer newspaper disclosed, on 28 November 1993, that the British government and Sinn Féin had been in secret communication since the previous February using a channel established in 1990. Both sides subsequently gave their respective version of the contact, revealing that the prospect of peace was closer than most had imagined. Criticism of the Secretary of State was fairly muted, although DUP leader Ian Paisley was ordered from the House of Commons on 29 November for accusing Mayhew of telling the House a lie. But perhaps the key event while Mayhew was Secretary of State came just a few weeks later, on 15 December 1993, when the Downing Street Declaration was issued by John Major and Albert Reynolds. This was a further significant step towards what would eventually emerge as the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. George Mitchell United States Senator George Mitchell was appointed as chair of the Northern Ireland all party talks in 1996. His appointment marked the level of US interest and involvement in the talks process. Before being allowed to participate in the all party talks, Northern Ireland political parties had to sign up to the Mitchell Principles, a commitment to seek the resolution of the conflict by non-violent and democratic means. Mitchell chaired the lengthy and difficult talks process, bringing it to final resolution with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He returned to Northern Ireland in 1999 to undertake a review of the Good Friday Agreement, after the institutions were prorogued due to Sinn Féin’s failure to decommission. While the Unionist Party had previously insisted on 'guns before government’ Mitchell negotiated a compromise which accepted parallel decommissioning (ie Sinn Féin could participate in government as long as the process of decommissioning occurred at the same time). In recognition of his role in effecting a resolution, Senator Mitchell was appointed Chancellor of QUB in 1999. James Molyneaux James Molyneaux was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party on 7 September 1979, having already led the party’s MPs at Westminster since October 1974 (then part of the United Ulster Loyalist Council grouping). The defining moment of Molyneaux’s tenure of the UUP leadership was the 'Ulster Says No’ campaign organised with the other unionist parties in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement which was signed in November 1985. However, Unionist unity did not last and Molyneaux came under increasing pressure from his own party rank and file to provide more resolute leadership in the face of what many unionists felt was an inexorable diminution of the Union. Having faced down a challenge to his leadership in March 1995, Molyneaux eventually resigned as UUP leader in August of that year. He was later elevated to the House of Lords. Maurice Morrow As part of the DUP’s policy of rotating its ministerial office holders, Maurice Morrow succeeded Nigel Dodds as Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive in July 2000. Born in Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Morrow previously worked as an estate agent and valuer. His took his first step on the political ladder in 1973 when he was elected to Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council. He is now Chairman of the DUP and Chief Whip of the party’s MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Mo Mowlam Mo Mowlam was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in Tony Blair’s first Cabinet after Labour’s landslide election victory on 1 May 1997. She was the first, and to date the only, female to hold this post. One of her first tasks was to attempt to mediate in the ongoing dispute between Portadown Orange District and the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition over the controversial parade route, but to no avail. However, in the wider political field her term of office did include the landmark date of 10 April 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed by all Northern Ireland’s main political parties, with the exception of the DUP. Unionists viewed Mowlam as being openly sympathetic to nationalists and this difficult relationship with unionists provided an already troublesome talks process with even greater difficulties. In 1999 she was replaced by Peter Mandelson as Secretary of State. Dermot Nesbitt Dermot Nesbitt has risen rapidly through the ranks of the UUP and was appointed Minister of the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive in the first NI Assembly, succeeding Sam Foster. He had previously worked as Junior Minister in the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister. Nesbitt had been Brian Faulkner’s election agent from 1973 to 1977, but later established himself as a Senior Lecturer in Finance at Queen’s University, Belfast, serving as Head of the Department of Accountancy and Finance from 1990 to 1998 when he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Terence O’Neill Terence O’Neill’s elevation to the premiership of Northern Ireland in March 1963, succeeding Brookeborough, marked the beginning of a new era in local politics. In the spirit of the times and in tune with the ecumenical movement, O’Neill sought to hold out a hand of reconciliation to Catholics in Northern Ireland and to the Republic of Ireland. In practice this meant symbolic visits to Catholic schools and ministerial meetings with his opposite number in the Republic, Sean Lemass and then Jack Lynch. The first such meeting was held at Stormont on 14 January 1965. O’Neill was also progressive in terms of economic planning and adopting a much more professional approach to politics. However, 'O’Neillism’ moved too far and too fast for many unionists, while progress was too limited and too slow for many nationalists. As Northern Ireland descended into political turmoil and civil strife in 1968, the base of O’Neill’s political support gradually diminished and he resigned on 28 April 1969. He died on 13 June 1990. Ian Paisley Paisley first achieved a public profile as an outspoken opponent of the ecumenical movement in the 1950s, having founded the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in 1951, of which he remains Moderator. In the 1960s he emerged as a hard-line opponent of Terence O’Neill’s brand of unionism, succeeding O’Neill as Stormont MP for Bannside in a by-election in April 1970. In June of the same year he was elected to Westminster for the constituency of North Antrim, a seat he has held ever since. In June 1979 Paisley was elected to the European Parliament as one of Northern Ireland’s three representatives, again retaining this seat to date. In October 1971 Paisley and Desmond Boal co-founded the Democratic Unionist Party, which Paisley still leads. James Prior James Prior was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 1981, as the IRA hunger strikes were drawing to a close. In terms of political initiatives, he was to be associated with 'rolling devolution’ as detailed in a government White Paper published on 5 April 1982. This envisaged a 78-member assembly to discuss the devolution and exercise of power. If 70% of members reached agreement, then power could be dissolved, on a department by department basis, at the Secretary of State’s discretion. It was ultimately another initiative that failed. Prior was replaced as Secretary of State by Tom King on 3 September 1985. Albert Reynolds Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail from 1992 to 1994, Albert Reynolds was instrumental in working with the British government to produce the Downing Street Declaration in 1993. Eight months later the IRA announced a cease-fire in September 1994. The Downing Street Declaration laid the foundation for the talks process. While Bertie Ahern can be see as one of the delivers of the Good Friday Agreement, Reynolds, along with PM Major, was the initiator. Peter Robinson Robinson was first elected to Westminster in the general election of 3 May 1979, when he defeated the sitting East Belfast MP, William Craig, by a margin of only 64 votes. Since then, Robinson has consolidated his power base and made East Belfast 'safe’ for the DUP, becoming that party’s deputy leader. In August 1986 he was arrested in the Republic of Ireland when he led a group of around 500 Loyalists in taking temporary control of the County Monaghan village of Clontibret. He was subsequently fined £15,000 by a court in Dundalk. In November 1999, Robinson was nominated as Minister for Regional Development in the new Northern Ireland Executive, one of two ministerial posts secured by the DUP. As a consequence of his party’s decision to rotate ministerial office holders, Robinson made way for Gregory Campbell in May 2000. Bríd Rodgers One of the few women to rise to the higher echelons of the SDLP, Bríd Rodgers gained much support for her mediation in the Garvaghy Road dispute. Elected as the MLA for Upper Bann, she was given the Agriculture brief in the allocation of ministerial responsibilities. She gained wide respect for her handling of the Foot and Mouth crisis and the open and accessible approach to her duties. Rodgers became deputy leader of the SDLP in autumn 2001. She did not contest her seat in the 2003 Assembly elections. David Trimble Leader of the UUP since 1995, David Trimble has performed a difficult balancing act – leading his party into all party talks and the power-sharing executive while trying to hold together a party which became increasingly more factionalised on the issue of Sinn Féin’s inclusion in government. A former law lecturer, Trimble had been active in 1974 as a member of the Vanguard Unionist group which helped bring down the power-sharing Executive of 1973–74. By the 1990s his position had shifted significantly to a more accommodatory stance and Trimble had to oversee the party shift towards accepting Sinn Féin in government. As leader of the Northern Ireland political party with the most seats in the Executive, Trimble became First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive in December 1999. In December 1998 Trimble and John Hume were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
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