Paddy Devlin

Patrick Joseph "Paddy" Devlin[1] (8 March 1925 – 15 August 1999) was an Irish socialist, labour and civil rights activist and writer. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a former Stormont MP, and a member of the 1974 Power Sharing Executive.

Paddy Devlin
Member of the NI Parliament for Belfast Falls
In office 1969–1972
Preceded by	Harry Diamond
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	Patrick Joseph Devlin 8 March 1925 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	15 August 1999 (aged 74) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	SDLP
Spouse(s)	Theresa Devlin
Children	5

Described as a "relentless campaigner against sectarianism", Devlin had once been a member of the IRA but later renounced physical force republicanism to work at transcending sectarian differences through democratic, socialist and nationalist political means.

During the late 1960s he entered local politics in the Belfast City Council and went on to help found the SDLP in 1970 with John Hume, Gerry Fitt, Austin Currie and others.[2]

Early life

Devlin was born in the Pound Loney in the Lower Falls in West Belfast 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 from 1942-45 at age 17. After his release he became convinced that physical force nationalism would not succeed in its goals.[3]

Post-war

After the war, and in search of work, he spent some time in Portsmouth 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 1958 he joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party.[3]

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 was also involved in the Peace Train Organisation.[3]

Devlin suffered from severe diabetes and throughout the 1990s suffered a series of ailments as his health and sight collapsed.

Political beliefs

John Hume and others supposedly saw Devlin 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.[4] 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.[5]

Devlin was a lifelong socialist who ended up being expelled from the SDLP for criticizing its lack of socialist politics.[3]

Outside of party politics, Devlin spent his later years as Area Secretary of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union. His knowledge of the Industrial Relations Order (Northern Ireland 1976) was extensive. He wrote an acclaimed study (his MSc thesis) of the 1935 Outdoor Relief Riots in Belfast, published as Yes We Have No Bananas in 1985.

References

1. https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/sdlp-founder-paddy-devlin-is-dead-at-74/
2. https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/sdlp-founder-paddy-devlin-is-dead-at-74/
3. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/lifelong-socialist-never-wavered-in-his-convictions-1.217021
4. 'Sinn Féin and the SDLP: From Alienation To Participation', (O'Brien Press, Dublin, 1995), pp.56–7. by Gerard Murray and Jonathan Tonge
5. ' The Dirty War', (Arrow, London, 1991), p.293.

External links

• BBC Obituary