Andy Tyrie

Andrew Tyrie (born 1940 [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/people/biography/tpeople.htm#tyrie Biography on CAIN site] ] ) is an Ulster loyalist and served as head of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during much of its early history.

Background

One of seven children born to a Shankill Road family, Tyrie was educated at the local Brown Square school and found work as a gardener with Belfast City Council. Whilst still at school Tyrie's family lived in both Ballymurphy and New Barnsley, although they were forced out of the two Catholic areas in 1969 and returned to the Shankill. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 65]

Tyrie's first involvement with the loyalist paramilitaries came in 1967 when he was sworn in as a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), although he did not stay long as he felt that the UVF was doing too little about Protestants being forced out of Catholic areas like his family. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 66] He soon fell in behind John McKeague, initially following him in the Ulster Protestant Volunteers, before joining his Shankill Defence Association (SDA) upon its foundation in 1969. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 66] Tyrie's power base within the SDA grew and he was a relatively high profile figure on the Shankill when it was absorbed by the UDA in 1971.

Assuming leadership

The newly formed UDA was dominated by Charles Harding Smith in West Belfast and Tommy Herron in the east of the city and it was feared from early on that a feud between the two would follow if either one was picked to lead the UDA. As such, in March 1973 Tyrie was picked as a compromise candidate for the leadership, being seen by Herron and Harding Smith as someone they could dominate. [McDonald & Cusack, pp. 64-65] The strategy did not work, however, as a feud between the two top men did follow with Herron killed in September 1973 although Harding Smith remained as a challenge to Tyrie's control.

His new-found role of leader was bolstered by the events of the Ulster Workers' Council Strike of 1974 in which he played a leading role. Having been a shop steward in his council days [McDonald & Cusack, p. 66] Tyrie became close to strike leader Glenn Barr and the UDA played a central role in marshalling the pickets and ensuring both order amongst the strikers and no picket crossing. Tyrie oversaw this aspect of the strike and was seen as one of the central figures, whilst the profile of the UDA grew fundamentally as a result. [McDonald & Cusack, pp. 75-77]

With Tyrie's profile boosted by the UWC strike, Harding Smith sought to move against Tyrie and used the pretext of Tyrie sending a delegation to Libya, with Muammar al-Gaddafi seen in many loyalist eyes as being firmly on the side of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 85] Harding Smith tried to overrule Tyrie but a feud resulted and, after surviving two assassination attempts, Harding Smith was forced to leave Northern Ireland for good. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 87]

Political strategy

Tyrie had been a central figure in the strike and as such had close contact with many within the unionist establishment. However once the strike was over he was shunned by Harry West and Ian Paisley and as such he built up a resentment towards mainstream unionism that would inform many of his political decisions as UDA leader. [McDonald & Cusack, pp. 83-84] He arranged an alliance with the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party but when the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party declined to join this grand alliance of loyalism Tyrie became even more resolved to pursue a political path for the UDA without mainstream unionism. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 89] Tyrie was close to William Craig and had supported his calls to 'liquidate the enemy' in 1972, although as Craig's political relevance diminished Tyrie's desire for a politicized UDA increased. [Taylor, p. 97] He broke further from the unionist position by calling for some coalitions with moderate nationalists in the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, albeit whilst adding that he had prepared the UDA for civil war if the initiative failed [McDonald & Cusack, p. 101] and severed all ties following the disastrous re-run of the UWC strike in 1977, during which the attempt not only failed but also saw four Protestants inadvertently killed by the UDA and UVF. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 102] Tyrie underlined his split from unionism in 1982 by writing a play entitled "This Is It" in which he savagely attacked Ian Paisley and his 'Third Force' dabbling in paramilitarism. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 120]

Tyrie sought to move the UDA towards more political activity and appointed Sammy Duddy, who had a reputation as a thinker within the movement, as his personal representative. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 103] Along with Duddy, Tyrie was one of the authors of the New Ulster Political Research Group document "Beyond the Religious Divide" which outlined a strategy of co-operation between the two communities within the framework of an independent Northern Ireland. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 105] Under his leadership the UDA saw a strong downturn in violent activity in 1977 and 1978, although this followed a two year period of high activity. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 115] Tyrie's political strategy took a blow in 1982 when he was arrested for being in possession of Royal Ulster Constabulary maps and charts, although he was acquitted of subsequent terror charges. [McDonald & Cusack, pp. 123-124]

Removal

As part of his political strategy Tyrie became close to John McMichael and supported his development of the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party along Ulster nationalist lines. [Taylor, pp. 168-169] However McMichael's murder in 1987 and his replacement with the less well-known Ray Smallwoods placed some doubts upon the political strategy that Tyrie had long advocated. Furthermore, resentment amongst the UDA's hardliners had been growing and they came to feel that Tyrie's leadership was too much about politics and not enough about action. [Taylor, pp. 198-199]

In order to silence some of his critics Tyrie arranged a shipment of guns for the UDA in early 1988. However after a tip-off the guns were seized by the RUC in Portadown in what was the latest in a series of setbacks that had dogged the UDA as a paramilitary group in the late 1980s. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 158] With Tyrie's stock at an all-time low amongst UDA militants he narrowly avoided death from a car bomb on March 6th 1988. Whilst no responsibility for the failed attack was claimed it has been suggested that it was done by the UVF in response to Tyrie working with the PIRA and Irish National Liberation Army on the murders of some UVF men during the 1970s. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 159] Tyrie himself felt that the attack was carried out by potential successors within the UDA but, whichever explanation was true, it demonstrated that Tyrie was no longer secure in his position and had become a target within loyalism as UDA leader. [Taylor, p. 200] Five days after the attack Tyrie announced his resignation as leader of the UDA and was placed on 'retirement' by the organisation. [Taylor, p. 100]

Post-UDA activity

Since quitting as UDA leader Tyrie has largely been outside active loyalism, although he has been brought back from time to time as the main voice of the old UDA. In 1994 he and Glenn Barr were recalled by the Ulster Democratic Party to spearhead their funding initiative. [Taylor, p. 232] He would go on to become an enthusiastic supporter of the UDP in their campaign in favour of the Belfast Agreement, claiming the it vindicated the strategy employed by John McMichael and himself. [Taylor, p. 251] In this role he became close to John White, who frequently made use of Tyrie when it came to convincing older UDA members of the benefits of the Agreement. [McDonald & Cusack, p. 361] Tyrie is now fully retired with no involvement in active loyalism.

Bibliogrpahy

*H. McDonald & J. Cusack, "UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror", Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004
*P. Taylor, "Loyalists", London: Bloomsbury, 2000

References