Alex Maskey
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| Alex Maskey MLA | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 26 November 2003 |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Constituency | South Belfast |
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| Born | January 8, 1951 (age 56) Northern Ireland |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
| Spouse | Liz McKee |
| Website | Sinn Féin profile |
Alex Maskey (born January 8, 1951) is an Irish politician who was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Belfast's Lord Mayor.[1] He is Sinn Féin's longest sitting Councillor and is currently an MLA for South Belfast as well as being a councillor for the Laganbank area of Belfast.[2]
[edit] Early life
Maskey was educated at St. Malachy's College and at the Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education and then worked in Belfast docks as a labourer and barman.[1][3] He was a successul amateur boxer, having only lost 4 out of 75 fights.[3]
When the Troubles broke out in 1969 he became involved with the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and was interned twice in the 1970s.[3]
[edit] Politics
Maskey stood unsuccessfully in West Belfast in the 1982 Assembly Election.[4] In 1983, as part of the armalite and ballot box strategy, Maskey won a by-election for a seat on Belfast City Council from the Upper Falls area and became the first member of Sinn Féin to be elected to Belfast City Council and only the second to be elected in Northern Ireland. Maskey emerged as a key ally of Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams' approach to the strategy.[1] In 1987 he survived being shot at close range by loyalist paramilitaries.[3]
In 1996 Maskey was elected to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum for the Belfast West constituency but did not attend the Forum in accordance with Sinn Féin's policy of abstentionism. Two years later he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which on this occasion Sinn Féin did not boycott.[5]
Maskey's growing political profile led him to contest the Belfast South constituency in the 2001 general election as part of Sinn Féin's strategy of building up their vote in one of their weaker constituencies.[6] In the local elections held on the same day he switched to the Laganbank area of South Belfast and won a seat there.[3]
In 2002 Maskey became the first ever republican to serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast.[3] His first duty in office was to open the annual Presbyterian General Assembly despite being a non-Presbyterian.[7] Maskey then generated controversy when in July 2002 he laid a wreath in memorial of Irish soldiers who died in the First World War. However he declined to attend the main memorial ceremony, stating that it was "the military commemoration of the Battle of the Somme".[8]
In the 2003 Assembly election Maskey stood in South Belfast again and won Sinn Féin's first seat there with a boost in the vote share. He also contested the seat in the 2005 general election with the vote share down on the Assembly elections, losing to the Social Democratic and Labour Party candidate, Alasdair McDonnell.[6]
On Christmas Day, 2005, Maskey suffered a heart attack while with his family. Several weeks later he appeared on BBC Radio Ulster to talk about his health.[9]
In 2006 he participated in the negotiations resulting in the ETA truce announced on 22 March.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Biographies of Prominent People. Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Alex Maskey. Belfast City Council. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f From barman to Belfast's first citizen. BBC News (5 June 2002). Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Nicholas Whyte (25 March 2003). Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1982. ARK. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Nicholas Whyte (3 June 1998). West Belfast. ARK. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.
- ^ a b Nicholas Whyte (3 June 1998). South Belfast. ARK. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.
- ^ Presbyterians welcome lord mayor. BBC News (10 June 2002). Retrieved on February 24, 2007.
- ^ Maskey marks Somme with wreath. BBC News (1 July 2002). Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Ex Belfast mayor discharged after heart attack. TCM Archives (30 December 2005). Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Sinn Fein 'involved in Eta move'. BBC News (24 March 2006). Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Jim Rodgers |
Lord Mayor of Belfast 2002 - 03 |
Succeeded by Martin Morgan |
Categories: 1951 births | Living people | Sinn Féin politicians | Provisional Irish Republican Army members | Roman Catholic politicians | People from Belfast | Councillors in Northern Ireland | Members of the Northern Ireland Forum | Northern Ireland MLAs 1998-2003 | Northern Ireland MLAs 2003-2007 | Northern Ireland MLAs 2007- | Mayors of places in Northern Ireland
