Ulster Political Research Group
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The Ulster Political Research Group are an advisory body connected to the Ulster Defence Association, providing advice to them on political matters. The group is largely a successor to the Ulster Democratic Party, which dissolved in 2001, and was permanently founded in January 2002.
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[edit] Origins
The group had its origins in the earlier New Ulster Political Research Group (NUPRG), which fielded three candidates in the 1981 local elections. The group was sympathetic to Ulster nationalism drawing on plans produced in 1976 by the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee. The NUPRG's Ulster nationalist blueprint, Beyond the Religious Divide, has been recently republished with a new introduction. The NUPRG were disbanded in 1981 and replaced with the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party, although the Ulster Political Research Group was later reconvened for policy-making purposes from time to time.
[edit] Leading members
Ex-UDP man Frank McCoubrey is the UPRG's leading member and sits on Belfast City Council ostensibly as an independent (and was formerly deputy Lord Mayor of the city), with other leading members including Sammy Duddy and Frankie Gallagher. Tommy Kirkham (a member of Newtownabbey Borough Council and registered leader of the Ulster Protestant League, a title he has never used in elections [1]), was also elected as a member of the UPRG.
[edit] 2006 split
In October 2006, the South East Antrim Brigade of the UDA announced it would no longer give its support to the UPRG, but would henceforth align itself with a new body named Beyond Conflict[2], founded by Kirkham. Several hours after this announcement, Beyond Conflict stated that it could take eight million pounds of British Government money and five years before the South East Antrim Brigade would cease all terrorist activity.[3]. Kirkham's role within the UPRG is in doubt after he was expelled from the UDA for his role in this loyalist feud [4].
[edit] 2007 funding row
In March 2007 the British government announced plans to give £1 million to a UPRG project designed to move the UDA away from paramilitarism [5]. The announcement followed an initiative by the UPRG to consult with UDA activists, culminating in the publication of a business plan to facilitate a Conflict Transformation Initiative [6]. The move was criticized by leading Police Service of Northern Ireland officer Det Supt Esmond Adair, who claimed that the UDA was still heavily involved in extortion [7].
