Paddy Devlin
Encyclopedia
Paddy Devlin was a Northern Irish
social democrat and Labour activist, a former Stormont
MP, a founder of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
(SDLP) and a member of the 1974 Power Sharing Executive
.
on 8 March 1925 and lived in the city for almost all his life. His mother was a leading activist in Joe Devlin
's (no relation) Nationalist Party
machine in the Falls area and Devlin grew up in a highly political household. However his early activism was confined to Fianna Éireann
and then the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and as a result he was interned
in Crumlin Road Gaol
during the Second World War. On his release he left the republican
movement.
working as a scaffolder and in Coventry
working in the car industry. In Coventry he became interested in Labour and trade union politics and briefly joined the British Labour Party
.
Returning to Belfast
in 1948 he helped establish the Irish Labour Party
there after the Northern Ireland Labour Party
(NILP) split on the issue of partition
and later he beat Gerry Fitt
to win a seat on the city council. Later Catholic Action
claimed the Irish Labour Party was infested with communists and ensured the party were effectively wiped out and Devlin lost his seat.
In the mid 1960s Devlin joined the revived NILP and beat Harry Diamond
for the Falls seat in Stormont
. Devlin then went on, with Fitt, John Hume
, Austin Currie
and others to found the SDLP in 1970. He was later involved, at the request of William Whitelaw, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
, in ensuring safe passage for Gerry Adams
for talks with the British government in 1973. He was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973 and Minister of Health and Social Services in the power-sharing Executive from 1 January 1974 to 28 May 1974.
In 1978 he established the United Labour Party
, which aimed to be a broad based Labour formation in Northern Ireland. He stood under its label for the European Parliament
in 1979 but polled just 6,122 first preferences
(1.1% of those cast) and thereby lost his deposit.
In 1987 he, together with remnants of the NILP and others, established Labour '87 as another attempt at building a Labour Party in Northern Ireland by uniting the disparate groups supporting labour and socialist policies but it too met with little or no success. In 1985 he lost his place on Belfast City council.
Devlin suffered from severe diabetes and throughout the 1990s suffered a series of ailments as his health and sight collapsed.
and not social democrats. Hume and others saw him as too forgiving of police
, but not the British Army
, as Devlin supported a motion tabled at the SDLP's annual conference in 1976 for British withdrawal. The motion, also supported by Ivan Cooper
, Seamus Mallon
, and Paddy Duffy
, but opposed by Party leader Gerry Fitt
, John Hume
and Austin Currie
, was defeated by 153 votes to 111. Devlin also spoke out against the assassination of Irish National Liberation Army
chief Ronnie Bunting
in 1980, commonly attributed to an Ulster Defence Association
hit squad, but which Devlin always believed was carried out by an 'SAS
type' unit with British Security force involvement.
Devlin saw the SDLP as a body to unite Catholic and Protestant workers and so transcend the traditional sectarian divisions of the north of Ireland through socialist politics. Others saw him as overly aggressive and forceful. In his autobiography
Straight Left he accused Hume of seeking to make the SDLP just another nationalist party and while not regretting his expulsion (following a public attack on the party's direction) from the SDLP in 1977 called the dispute that led him to leave "a most unworthy squabble" and concedes "I was not the innocent party". "No one's talking to (Protestants) about the price of a loaf of bread or how much it takes to pay the rent," he said in a 1995 interview. "No one has had any regard for the majority of people here, the Protestants. ... We've scarcely recognized them."
Outside of party politics, Devlin spent his later years as Belfast organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union
and wrote an acclaimed study (his MSc. thesis
) of the 1935 Outdoor Relief Riots in Belfast, published as Yes We Have No Bananas in 1985.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
social democrat and Labour activist, a former Stormont
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
MP, a founder of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
(SDLP) and a member of the 1974 Power Sharing Executive
Sunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
.
Early life
Devlin was born in the Pound Loney in the Lower Falls in West BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
on 8 March 1925 and lived in the city for almost all his life. His mother was a leading activist in Joe Devlin
Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin, also known as Joe Devlin, was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician...
's (no relation) Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)
The Nationalist Party† - was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and was formed after partition, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP....
machine in the Falls area and Devlin grew up in a highly political household. However his early activism was confined to Fianna Éireann
Fianna Éireann
The name Fianna Éireann , also written Fianna na hÉireann and Na Fianna Éireann , has been used by various Irish republican youth movements throughout the 20th and 21st centuries...
and then the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and as a result he was interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
in Crumlin Road Gaol
Crumlin Road Gaol
HMP Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the only Victorian era prison remaining in Northern Ireland and has been derelict since 1996...
during the Second World War. On his release he left the republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
movement.
Post-war
After the war, and in search of work, he spent some time in PortsmouthPortsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
working as a scaffolder and in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
working in the car industry. In Coventry he became interested in Labour and trade union politics and briefly joined the British Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
Returning to Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
in 1948 he helped establish the Irish Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
there after the Northern Ireland Labour Party
Northern Ireland Labour Party
The Northern Ireland Labour Party was an Irish political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...
(NILP) split on the issue of partition
Partition of Ireland
The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories, now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . Partition occurred when the British Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1920...
and later he beat Gerry Fitt
Gerry Fitt
Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...
to win a seat on the city council. Later Catholic Action
Catholic Action
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries that fell under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and...
claimed the Irish Labour Party was infested with communists and ensured the party were effectively wiped out and Devlin lost his seat.
In the mid 1960s Devlin joined the revived NILP and beat Harry Diamond
Harry Diamond
Harry Diamond was a socialist and an Irish nationalist. He was the MP for Belfast Falls in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and later the leader of the Republican Labour Party....
for the Falls seat in Stormont
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
. Devlin then went on, with Fitt, John Hume
John Hume
John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....
, Austin Currie
Austin Currie
Austin Currie is a former politician who was elected to the parliaments of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland....
and others to found the SDLP in 1970. He was later involved, at the request of William Whitelaw, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
, in ensuring safe passage for Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
for talks with the British government in 1973. He was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973 and Minister of Health and Social Services in the power-sharing Executive from 1 January 1974 to 28 May 1974.
In 1978 he established the United Labour Party
United Labour Party (Northern Ireland)
The United Labour Party was a minor political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded by Paddy Devlin in 1978 with the aim of being a broad based Labour formation, as opposed to the Northern Ireland Labour Party, which primarily drew its support from Protestants, and the Social Democratic and...
, which aimed to be a broad based Labour formation in Northern Ireland. He stood under its label for the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
in 1979 but polled just 6,122 first preferences
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
(1.1% of those cast) and thereby lost his deposit.
In 1987 he, together with remnants of the NILP and others, established Labour '87 as another attempt at building a Labour Party in Northern Ireland by uniting the disparate groups supporting labour and socialist policies but it too met with little or no success. In 1985 he lost his place on Belfast City council.
Devlin suffered from severe diabetes and throughout the 1990s suffered a series of ailments as his health and sight collapsed.
Political beliefs
Devlin, like Fitt, was a Labour man first and foremost and deeply distrusted John Hume and others in the SDLP who he regarded as nationalistsIrish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
and not social democrats. Hume and others saw him as too forgiving of police
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
, but not the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, as Devlin supported a motion tabled at the SDLP's annual conference in 1976 for British withdrawal. The motion, also supported by Ivan Cooper
Ivan Cooper
Ivan Averill Cooper is a former politician from Northern Ireland who was a Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and founding member of the SDLP...
, Seamus Mallon
Seamus Mallon
Seamus Frederick Mallon born 17 August 1936, in Markethill, County Armagh, is an Irish politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland...
, and Paddy Duffy
Paddy Duffy
Paddy Duffy was an Irish-American and the first World Welterweight champion of the gloved era of boxing.-Professional career:Duffy won his first fight by KO over Skin Doherty in 1884 at age nineteen....
, but opposed by Party leader Gerry Fitt
Gerry Fitt
Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party , a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.-Early years:...
, John Hume
John Hume
John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....
and Austin Currie
Austin Currie
Austin Currie is a former politician who was elected to the parliaments of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland....
, was defeated by 153 votes to 111. Devlin also spoke out against the assassination of Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
chief Ronnie Bunting
Ronnie Bunting
Ronnie Bunting was an Irish republican and socialist activist in Ireland. He became a member of the Official IRA in the early 1970s and was a founder member of the Irish National Liberation Army in 1974. He became leader of the INLA in 1978 and was assassinated in 1980.-Background:Bunting came...
in 1980, commonly attributed to an Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
hit squad, but which Devlin always believed was carried out by an 'SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
type' unit with British Security force involvement.
Devlin saw the SDLP as a body to unite Catholic and Protestant workers and so transcend the traditional sectarian divisions of the north of Ireland through socialist politics. Others saw him as overly aggressive and forceful. In his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Straight Left he accused Hume of seeking to make the SDLP just another nationalist party and while not regretting his expulsion (following a public attack on the party's direction) from the SDLP in 1977 called the dispute that led him to leave "a most unworthy squabble" and concedes "I was not the innocent party". "No one's talking to (Protestants) about the price of a loaf of bread or how much it takes to pay the rent," he said in a 1995 interview. "No one has had any regard for the majority of people here, the Protestants. ... We've scarcely recognized them."
Outside of party politics, Devlin spent his later years as Belfast organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union
Irish Transport and General Workers' Union
The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
and wrote an acclaimed study (his MSc. thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
) of the 1935 Outdoor Relief Riots in Belfast, published as Yes We Have No Bananas in 1985.