Bernadette Devlin McAliskey

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
A mural by the Bogside Artists in Derry's Bogside, depicting Devlin
Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster
In office 1969–1974
Preceded by	George Forrest
Succeeded by	John Dunlop
Majority	18,213
Personal details
Born	23 April 1947 (1947-04-23) Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Independent (1970-1974), (1976-1977), (1978-present)
Other political affiliations	Unity (1969-1970), Independent Socialist Party (1977-1978), Irish Republican Socialist Party (1974-1976)
Spouse(s)	Michael McAliskey
Children	Róisín Elizabeth McAliskey Deirdre McAliskey
Alma mater	Queens University of Belfast
Religion	Atheism (Formerly Roman Catholicism[1])

Josephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (born 23 April 1947, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland), also known as Bernadette Devlin and Bernadette McAliskey, is a socialist republican political activist. She served as a Member of Parliament at Westminster from 1969 to 1974 for the Mid Ulster constituency.

Political beginnings

Devlin was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone and raised as a Roman Catholic. She attended St Patrick's Girls Academy in Dungannon.^[2] She was studying Psychology at Queen's University Belfast in 1968 when she took a prominent role in a student-led civil rights organisation, People's Democracy.^[3] Devlin was subsequently excluded from the university.^[3] She opposed James Chichester-Clark in the Northern Ireland general election of 1969. When George Forrest, the MP for Mid Ulster, died, she fought the subsequent by-election on the "Unity" ticket, defeating a female Unionist candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the Westminster Parliament. At age 21, she was the youngest MP at the time, and remains the youngest woman elected.^[3]

Devlin stood on the slogan "I will take my seat and fight for your rights" – signalling her rejection of the traditional Irish republican tactic of abstentionism (being absent from Westminster). She made her maiden speech on her 22nd birthday, within an hour of taking her seat.^[4]

Many Catholics approved of her activities, while many Protestants were critical of her and referred to her as a "Fidel Castro in a miniskirt."^[5][6] Her 1969 book, The Price of My Soul, publicised discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.^[7]

The Troubles

The Battle of the Bogside

Her radical left-wing politics resulted in conviction of incitement to riot in December 1969. She had actively engaged, on the side of the residents, in the 'Battle of the Bogside'. She served a short jail term.^[8] After being re-elected in the 1970 general election, Devlin declared that she would sit in Parliament as an independent socialist.^[9]

Director/producer John Goldschmidt made the major documentary film 'Bernadette Devlin' for ATV which was shown on ITV in the UK and on CBS's 60 Minutes in the USA. This documentary included footage of Devlin during the 'Battle of the Bogside'.^{[citation needed]}

Bloody Sunday

Devlin witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday. She was later infuriated that she was consistently denied the chance to speak in Parliament, although parliamentary convention decreed that any MP witnessing an incident under discussion would be granted an opportunity to speak about it in Parliament.^[10]

Devlin punched Reginald Maudling, the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the Conservative government, when he made a statement to Parliament on Bloody Sunday stating that the British Army had fired only in self-defence.^[3][11] She was suspended for six months from Parliament as a result of the incident.^[12]

IRSP

McAliskey helped to form the Irish Republican Socialist Party along with Seamus Costello in 1974.^{[citation needed]} This was a revolutionary socialist breakaway from Official Sinn Féin and paralleled the Irish National Liberation Army's split from the Official Irish Republican Army.^[13] She served on the party's national executive in 1975, but resigned when a proposal that the INLA become subordinate to the party executive was defeated.^[14] In 1977, she joined the Independent Socialist Party, but it disbanded the following year.^{[citation needed]}

Support for hunger strike prisoners

She stood as an independent candidate in support of the prisoners on the blanket protest and dirty protest at Long Kesh prison in the 1979 elections to the European Parliament in Northern Ireland, and won 5.9% of the vote.^[15] She was a leading spokesperson for the Smash H-Block Campaign, which supported the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in 1980 and 1981.

Injured in Loyalist shooting

On 16 January 1981, she and her husband were shot by members of the Ulster Defence Association using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters"^[16][17] who broke into their home in Coalisland, County Tyrone. The gunmen shot McAliskey a total of seven times in front of her children.^[18] British soldiers were watching the McAliskey home at the time, but failed to prevent the assassination attempt.^[3][19] An army patrol of the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment heard the shots and rushed to McAliskey's house. The paramilitaries had torn out the telephone and while the wounded couple were being given first aid by the troops, a soldier ran to a neighbour's house, commandeered a car, and drove to the home of a councillor to telephone for help. The couple were taken by helicopter to hospital in nearby Dungannon for emergency treatment and then to the Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast under intensive care. Three attackers, including Ray Smallwoods, captured by the army patrol, were subsequently jailed.^[20]

Dáil Éireann elections

In 1982, she twice failed in an attempt to be elected to the Dublin North Central constituency of Dáil Éireann.^[21]

Deported from USA

In 2003, she was barred from entering the United States and deported on the grounds that the State Department had declared that she "poses a serious threat to the security of the United States", although she protested that she had no terrorist involvement — hinging ostensibly on her conviction for incitement to riot in 1969 — but had frequently been permitted to travel to the United States in the past.^[22][23][24]

Personal life

In 1971, while still unmarried, she gave birth to a daughter Róisín.^[3] This cost her some support in conservative Roman Catholic areas.^[11] She married Michael McAliskey on 23 April 1973, which was her 26th birthday.^{[citation needed]}

On 12 May 2007, she was guest speaker at éirígí's first Annual James Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin.^[25] She is currently involved in the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme,^{[26][clarification needed]} and works with migrant workers to improve their treatment in Northern Ireland.^[3]

At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival a biopic of Devlin was announced,^[3] but Devlin stated that "[t]he whole concept is abhorrent to me" and the film was not made.

References

1. ^ Bernadette Devlin: "Bernadette Devlin, a radical feminist and Catholic activist in Northern Ireland, was a founder of People's Democracy."
2. ^ CAIN: Biographies of Prominent People - Mc
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Moreton, Cole (2008-10-05). "Bernadette McAliskey: Return of the Roaring Girl". Independent on Sunday (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-return-of-the-roaring-girl-951825.html. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 
4. ^ [1] Maiden speech in Commons 1969
5. ^ Knauer, Kelly (editor). "1969: Woodstock, the Moon, and Manson: The Turbulent End of the '60s." (special) TIME. 2009. 40.
6. ^ "Travels of Bernadette." TIME. Friday September 5, 1969. 2. Retrieved on July 12, 2009.
7. ^ Devlin, Bernadette (1969). The Price of My Soul. Random House. ISBN 978-0394441245. 
8. ^ "1970: "Violence flares as Devlin is arrested"". BBC. 26 June 1970. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_2519000/2519711.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 
9. ^ F. W. S. Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results, 1950-1973", Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 2nd edn. 1983, p. 687.
10. ^ Ros Wynne-Jones (9 March 1997). "Daughters of Ireland". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20080524113024/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970309/ai_n14092582/pg_2. Retrieved 2007-06-02. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "1969: "Devlin is youngest-ever woman MP"". BBC. 17 April 1969. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2524000/2524881.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-02. 
12. ^ David McKittrick (26 January 1997). "Bloody Sunday: the ghosts that won't lie down". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20080524113020/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970126/ai_n9645930. Retrieved 2007-06-02. 
13. ^ Holland, Jack; McDonald, Henry (1996). INLA Deadly Divisions. Poolbeg. p. 49. ISBN 1-85371-263-9. 
14. ^ [2]
15. ^ Nicholas Whyte (18 April 2004). "Northern Ireland and the European Parliament". ARK. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fe04.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-11. 
16. ^ Chronology of the Conflict: January 1981, CAIN
17. ^ Peter Taylor, Loyalists, p. 168
18. ^ CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict: January 1981
19. ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 0-7475-4519-7. 
20. ^ "Devlin is 'very ill' after shooting", The Guardian, 17 January 1981
21. ^ "Elections Ireland: "Bernadette McAliskey"". ElectionsIreland.org. http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3444. Retrieved 2007-06-02. 
22. ^ "Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Barred Entry to the United States", Counterpunch, 22 February 2003
23. ^ "World Socialist News". Wsws.org. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/devl-m05.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
24. ^ "Bernadette Devlin banned from USA | Catholic New Times | Find Articles at BNET". Findarticles.com. 2003-04-06. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/is_6_27/ai_111012328. Retrieved 2010-06-17. 
25. ^ "éirígí Árd Fheis 2007". éirígí. http://www.eirigi.org/Ard_Fheis_07/bernadette_mcaliskey_07_address.html. Retrieved 2007-05-25. 
26. ^ STEP website Home page

External links

• Bernadette Devlin, The Price of My Soul, 1969 (Foreword and Chapter Twelve)
• THE BLANKET: "Knowing Too Much and Saying It Too Well: Bernadette McAliskey Barred from US" - 23 Feb 2003, (by Anthony McIntyre)
• Interview by Peter Stanford, published in The Independent on Sunday: 29 July 2007.
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Bernadette Devlin

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George Forrest	Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster 1969–1974	Succeeded by John Dunlop
Preceded by Leslie Huckfield	Baby of the House 1969–1974	Succeeded by Dafydd Elis-Thomas

Persondata
Name	Macaliskey, Bernadette Devlin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 April 1947
Place of birth	Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Date of death
Place of death