David Ervine

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David Ervine
Leader of PUP
In office
2002 – 2007
Preceded by Hugh Smyth
Succeeded by Dawn Purvis
Constituency Belfast East
Born July 21, 1953(1953-07-21)
Belfast
Died January 8, 2007 (aged 53)
Belfast
Political party PUP
Spouse Jeanette (1971)
Children Mark and Owen
Website Progressive Unionist Party

David Ervine (July 21, 1953 - January 8, 2007) was a Northern Irish politician and the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).

Contents

[edit] Biography

David Ervine was raised in a staunchly Protestant working-class area of east Belfast. Like many in his situation, he grew up closely identifying with his community and absorbed the Ulster Unionism ideals and opinions that go along with this identity. He left Orangefield High School at 14, and at the age of 19 Ervine joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), believing this to be the only way to ensure the defence of the Protestant community.

[edit] Arrest and imprisonment

Ervine was arrested in November 1974, while an active member of the UVF. He was driving a stolen car containing five pounds of commercial explosives, a detonator and fuse wire. After 7 months on remand in Crumlin Road Gaol he was found guilty of possession of explosives with intent to endanger life, he was sentenced to 11 years and imprisoned in The Maze.

He later claimed that his witnessing of the carnage caused by the Provisional Irish Republican Army's bombing of Belfast's city centre in 1972 on Bloody Friday (21 July, Ervine's 19th Birthday) drove him into the ranks of the UVF. On that day nine people died and huge devastation was caused to the city as, in little over an hour, 21 bombs exploded one after the other.

While in prison, Ervine came under the influence of Gusty Spence who made him question what his struggle was about. Spence's influence unquestionably changed Ervine's direction: after much study and self-analysis, Ervine emerged with the view that change through politics was the only option.

He also became friends with Billy Hutchinson while in prison.

[edit] Release

Ervine was released from prison in 1980. He owned a newsagents' in Belfast for several years before taking up full-time politics. He stood in local council elections as a Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) candidate in 1985. In 1998, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent Belfast East and was re-elected in 2003. He was also a member of Belfast City Council from 1997.

[edit] Loyalist ceasefire

Ervine is said to have played a pivotal role in bringing about loyalist ceasefire of October 1994. He was part of a delegation to Downing Street in June 1996 that met then British Prime Minister John Major to discuss the loyalist ceasefire.

[edit] Progressive

Ervine was considered to be one of the most progressive unionists in Northern Ireland politics. He had been a strong supporter of the Good Friday Agreement and was one of the few unionist politicians to still actively support the Agreement. At a Labour Party meeting in 2001, then Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, described him as "one of the most eloquent politicians in Northern Ireland". Some of the less articulate of his opponents made references to him having swallowed a dictionary. Some saw Ervine as one of the few politicians actively engaged with conflict resolution.

In the Northern Ireland Assembly, he was seen as a Unionist sympathetic to the short term demands of Sinn Féin. He abstained against attempts by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to exclude Sinn Féin from office in July 2000 [1] and October 2001[2]. In April 2001, he provoked a direct political attack from the DUP over him being the only Unionist to vote against a motion condemning the display of lillies commemorating the 1916 Easter Uprising at Parliament Buildings.[3]. He also expressed support for the right of Sinn Féin members to make speeches in Irish (Gaelic) on the floor of the Assembly. Later, political commentators noted how he sat next to Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness at the funeral of Northern Ireland football legend George Best in December 2005 as a sign of how Northern Ireland had moved on.

The PUP, however, had close ties to the loyalist paramilitary organisation, the UVF throughout his involvement in democratic politics.

[edit] Controversy

In May 2005, the Independent Monitoring Commission recommended a continuation of the financial sanctions on his Assembly salary imposed following its report of April 2004. The IMC was of the opinion that the UVF and the PUP maintain strong links while the UVF is heavily involved in criminality such as drug dealing and tobacco and fuel smuggling. It further noted that the UVF was responsible for a number of acts of violence including murder and was actively maintaining its capacity to wage a terrorist campaign. It concluded that 12 months after the sanctions were originally imposed, the PUP leadership was still not doing enough to address the UVF's criminal and paramilitary activities.

Ervine appealed against the IMC's recommendation to newly appointed Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on the basis that he could not be held directly responsible for the UVF's actions and thus it was wrong to penalise him personally. Hain accepted his representations and his Assembly salary was fully restored.

The IMC again recommended financial sanctions against him and the PUP in its special report of September 2005 on the violent feud that erupted between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force that summer in which a number of murders and attempted murders had been committed. It argued that the PUP leadership was still in a position to significantly influence the UVF and as such, the party could not have it both ways by associating with an active paramilitary organisation and not face any political consequences.

In its final regular reports of Ervine's life in April and October 2006, the IMC concluded that it was satisfied the PUP leadership had taken appropriate action to de-escalate UVF's violence and criminality and withdrew its punitive recommendations. [4]

[edit] Links with the Ulster Unionists

On 13 May 2006, it was announced that when the Northern Ireland Assembly reconvenes, Ervine would join the Ulster Unionist assembly group, whilst remaining leader of the Progressive Unionists. Under the d'Hondt formula used for allocating places on the Northern Ireland Executive this would entitle the Ulster Unionists to an additional place. [5]

The Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the Assembly, Ms Eileen Bell, MLA indicated at the first meeting of the 'shadow' Assembly (May 15, 2006) that she would take legal advice before ruling on whether Mr Ervine could be treated as a member of the UUP group. [6]

On the 11 September 2006 Ms Bell announced that the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Group did not have a headquarters, at least one party leader and a scheme for financial support thus did not qualify as a political party. This means that the UUPAG could not sit in the Assembly so the Alliance was deemed as invalid [7]

[edit] Illness and death

Ervine was reported as having suffered two massive heart attacks and a stroke[8] after attending a football match between Glentoran F.C. and Armagh City F.C. at The Oval in Belfast on Saturday 6 January 2007. It was later confirmed that he had one heart attack, a stroke and brain haemorrhage[9]. He was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald and was later admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast [10]. Ervine did not die until Monday 8 January 2007[11], however it was reported by RTÉ News at 9pm and on their website on the previous evening Sunday 7 January, that he had died that day.[12][13] RTÉs Northern Editor, Tommie Gorman, later apologised for his wrongly reported story of the death of Ervine in a radio interview[9].

Ervine was buried in Roselawn Cemetery on January 12, after a funeral service in east Belfast attended by Mark Durkan, Gerry Adams, Peter Hain, Dermot Ahern, Hugh Orde and David Trimble among others.[14][15]

[edit] Tributes

  • Brian Ervine, Ervine's elder brother: "He had the guts and the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no-man's land and play ball with him."
  • Bertie Ahern (Taoiseach): "(Ervine) was a courageous politician who sought to channel the energies of loyalism in a positive political direction."[16]
  • Reg Empey MLA: "Northern Ireland has today lost a unique, charismatic and uncharacteristically spin-free politician."[16]
  • Gerry Adams MLA/MP: "He made a valuable and important contribution to moving our society away from conflict."[16]
  • George Mitchell (Former US Senator): "His legacy is that he has led loyalism out of the Dark Ages."[17]
  • Trevor Sargent TD: "His death leaves a major vacuum in terms of the quality of political representatives in Northern Ireland. I hope that the legacy of Mr Ervine's bravery will be taken up by others after him."[18]
  • Tony Blair (British Prime Minister): "David was a man who, whatever his past, played a major part in this last 10 years in trying to bring peace to Ulster."[19]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Northern Ireland Assembly Official Report, 4 July 2000.
  2. ^ Northern Ireland Assembly Official Report, 8 October 2001.</}}
  3. ^ Northern Ireland Assembly Official Report, 10 April 2001.</}}
  4. ^ Independent Monitoring Commission Website. All reports can be found in publications section.
  5. ^ Ervine to join UUP assembly group. BBC (2006-05-13).
  6. ^ Row as Ervine joins UUP grouping. BBC (2006-05-15).
  7. ^ UUP-PUP link 'against the rules'. BBC (2006-09-11).
  8. ^ David Irivine critically ill breakingnews.ie
  9. ^ a b PUP leader Ervine dies in hospital. RTÉ (2007-01-08).
  10. ^ PUP leader 'critical' in hospital. BBC (2007-01-07).
  11. ^ PUP's Ervine has died in hospital. BBC Northern Ireland (2007-01-07).
  12. ^ PUP leader Ervine critical in hospital. RTÉ (2007-01-07).
  13. ^ Unionist leader Ervine remains in critical condition. breakingnews.ie (2007-01-07).
  14. ^ BBC News
  15. ^ UTV
  16. ^ a b c Leaders' condolences after Ervine death. RTÉ (2007-01-08).
  17. ^ Stormont silent in Ervine tribute BBC (2007-01-09)
  18. ^ PUP's Ervine has died in hospital. BreakingNews.ie (2007-01-07).
  19. ^ Reaction to PUP leader's death. BBC (2007-01-08).

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Hugh Smyth		 Leader of the Progressive Unionist Party
2002 - 2007		 Succeeded by
Dawn Purvis