Tom Hartley

Tom Hartley (born 1945 or 1946) is a historian and Irish republican politician.

Hartley grew up in the Falls Road area of Belfast and became an republican activist in the late 1960s. In 1970, he was imprisoned in the Crumlin Road gaol for riotous behaviour; he was again imprisoned in 1978. During the 1981 Irish hunger strike, Hartley chaired the POW Committee." [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/29791 Sinn Féin's Tom Hartley elected Mayor of Belfast] ", "An Phoblacht", 5 June 2008]

Hartley became active in Sinn Féin, serving as the General Secretary in the mid-1980s and as the Chair in the early 1990s. In 1993, he was elected to Belfast City Council for the Lower Falls, and has held his seat at each subsequent election. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgbelfast.htm Belfast City Council Elections 1993-2005] , Northern Ireland Elections]

Hartley was one of three Sinn Féin candidates in Northern Ireland at the European election, 1994. Although he took only 3.8% of the votes cast and was not elected, he did receive more votes than the party's other candidates. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fe94.htm The 1994 European elections] , Northern Ireland Elections]

In 2008, Hartley became the second Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast. In his spare time, he conducts tours of Belfast City Cemetery [Laura Friel, " [http://republican-news.org/archive/1999/December16/16tomh.html A winter's tale] ", "An Phoblacht", 16 December 1999] and authored the 2006 book "Written in Stone: The History of Belfast City Cemetery". [ [http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/citycemetery/writteninstone.asp Written in Stone] , Belfast City Council]

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