Richard Byrne was an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 nationalist

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....

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

Byrne worked as a publican

Publican

In antiquity, publicans were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects...

 and was also a landlord

Landlord

A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...

. He was elected to Belfast City Council

Belfast City Council

Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of , the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area...

 in 1910, serving until his death. At the Northern Ireland general election, 1921, Byrne unsuccessfully contested Belfast West

Belfast West (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Belfast West was a borough constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 - 1929. It returned four MPs, using the single transferable vote method of proportional representation.-Boundaries:...

.

Byrne contested Belfast Falls

Belfast Falls (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Belfast Falls was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.-Boundaries:Belfast Falls was a borough constituency comprising part of western Belfast...

 at the Northern Ireland general election, 1929

Northern Ireland general election, 1929

-References:*...

. This came with the reluctant support of party leader Joseph Devlin

Joseph Devlin

Joseph Devlin, also known as Joe Devlin, was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician...

, who described Byrne as a "Tory

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

" and an "old pisspot". The contest was bitter, with 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...

 opponent Billy McMullen producing a newspaper, the Northern Worker, claiming that Byrne was a slum landlord

Slum

A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...

. Byrne secured an injunction to stop distribution two days before the election, and beat McMullen by around 1,400 votes.

From 1937 until his death, Byrne and Thomas Joseph Campbell

Thomas Joseph Campbell

Thomas Joseph Campbell , known as T. J. Campbell, was an Irish nationalist newspaper editor, politician and judge.Brought up as a Roman Catholic in Belfast, Campbell studied at St Malachy's College and the Royal University of Ireland. In 1895, he began editing the Irish News, a local nationalist...

were the only Nationalist Party members to regularly attend the Parliament. Byrne held the seat until his death in 1942.