Vincent MacDowell 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...

 political activist. He was the vice chairman of Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for equal civil rights for the all the people in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 in the 1960s, and later a representative of the Green Party and the Irish Labour Party.

Born in Newry

Newry

Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...

, County Down, MacDowell was interned for IRA membership in the 1940s. He was a member of the Socialist Republican Party in Belfast, where he edited the party's newspaper the Northern Star. MacDowell advocated the Irish Labour Party re-organising in Northern Ireland, and supported the party in elections in the late 1940s and early 1950s in Belfast.

He was elected as a Green Party councilor in Dun Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...

 in 1999, after previously standing as an Independent and Labour party member, he also stood unsuccessfully for the Green Party in the 1996 Forum elections

Northern Ireland Forum

The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....

 in Newry and Armagh

Newry and Armagh (Assembly constituency)

Newry and Armagh is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996. Since 1998, it has elected members to the current Assembly....

.

MacDowell left the Green Party over the dispute regarding the nomination of Ciarán Cuffe

Ciarán Cuffe

Ciarán Cuffe is an Irish Green Party politician, an architect and a lecturer in planning. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2002 to 2011, and served as Minister of State for Horticulture; Sustainable Travel; and Planning and Heritage from 2010 to 2011.-Background:Born...

 as the candidate in the Dáil election, initially joining the Labour Party but ran as an independent in the 2002 general election.

He is the father of former Green MEP for Leinster Nuala Ahern

Nuala Ahern

Nuala Ahern is a former Irish Green Party member of the European Parliament representing Leinster in Ireland from 1994–2004. Ahern became active in politics in 1991 becoming elected to Wicklow County Council...

(née MacDowell). he died aged 78 on the 31st of August 2003.