| Bernadette Devlin McAliskey | |
|---|---|
| A mural by the Bogside Artists in Derry's Bogside, depicting Devlin | |
| Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster |
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| In office 1969–1974 |
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| Preceded by | George Forrest |
| Succeeded by | John Dunlop |
| Majority | 18,213 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 April 1947 Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Independent (1970-1974), (1976-1977), (1978-present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Unity (1969-1970), Independent Socialist Party (1977-1978), Irish Republican Socialist Party (1974-1976) |
| Spouse(s) | Michael McAliskey |
| Children | Róisín Elizabeth McAliskey Deirdre McAliskey |
| Alma mater | Queens University of Belfast |
| Religion | Atheism (Formerly Roman Catholicism[1]) |
Josephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey (born 23 April 1947, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland), also known as Bernadette Devlin and Bernadette McAliskey, is a socialist republican political activist. She served as a Member of Parliament at Westminster from 1969 to 1974 for the Mid Ulster constituency.
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Devlin was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone and raised as a Roman Catholic. She attended St Patrick's Girls Academy in Dungannon.[2] She was studying Psychology at Queen's University Belfast in 1968 when she took a prominent role in a student-led civil rights organisation, People's Democracy.[3] Devlin was subsequently excluded from the university.[3] She opposed James Chichester-Clark in the Northern Ireland general election of 1969. When George Forrest, the MP for Mid Ulster, died, she fought the subsequent by-election on the "Unity" ticket, defeating a female Unionist candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the Westminster Parliament. At age 21, she was the youngest MP at the time, and remains the youngest woman elected.[3]
Devlin stood on the slogan "I will take my seat and fight for your rights" – signalling her rejection of the traditional Irish republican tactic of abstentionism (being absent from Westminster). She made her maiden speech on her 22nd birthday, within an hour of taking her seat.[4]
Many Catholics approved of her activities, while many Protestants were critical of her and referred to her as a "Fidel Castro in a miniskirt."[5][6] Her 1969 book, The Price of My Soul, publicised discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.[7]
Her radical left-wing politics resulted in conviction of incitement to riot in December 1969. She had actively engaged, on the side of the residents, in the 'Battle of the Bogside'. She served a short jail term.[8] After being re-elected in the 1970 general election, Devlin declared that she would sit in Parliament as an independent socialist.[9]
Director/producer John Goldschmidt made the major documentary film 'Bernadette Devlin' for ATV which was shown on ITV in the UK and on CBS's 60 Minutes in the USA. This documentary included footage of Devlin during the 'Battle of the Bogside'.
Devlin witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday. She was later infuriated that she was consistently denied the chance to speak in Parliament, although parliamentary convention decreed that any MP witnessing an incident under discussion would be granted an opportunity to speak about it in Parliament.[10]
Devlin punched Reginald Maudling, the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the Conservative government, when he made a statement to Parliament on Bloody Sunday stating that the British Army had fired only in self-defence.[3][11] She was suspended for six months from Parliament as a result of the incident.[12]
McAliskey helped to form the Irish Republican Socialist Party along with Seamus Costello in 1974. This was a revolutionary socialist breakaway from Official Sinn Féin and paralleled the Irish National Liberation Army's split from the Official Irish Republican Army.[13] She served on the party's national executive in 1975, but resigned when a proposal that the INLA become subordinate to the party executive was defeated.[14] In 1977, she joined the Independent Socialist Party, but it disbanded the following year.
She stood as an independent candidate in support of the prisoners on the blanket protest and dirty protest at Long Kesh prison in the 1979 elections to the European Parliament in Northern Ireland, and won 5.9% of the vote.[15] She was a leading spokesperson for the Smash H-Block Campaign, which supported the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike in 1980 and 1981.
On 16 January 1981, she and her husband were shot by members of the Ulster Defence Association using their cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters"[16][17] who broke into their home in Coalisland, County Tyrone. The gunmen shot McAliskey a total of seven times in front of her children.[18] British soldiers were watching the McAliskey home at the time, but failed to prevent the assassination attempt.[3][19] An army patrol of the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment heard the shots and rushed to McAliskey's house. The paramilitaries had torn out the telephone and while the wounded couple were being given first aid by the troops, a soldier ran to a neighbour's house, commandeered a car, and drove to the home of a councillor to telephone for help. The couple were taken by helicopter to hospital in nearby Dungannon for emergency treatment and then to the Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast under intensive care. Three attackers, including Ray Smallwoods, captured by the army patrol, were subsequently jailed.[20]
In 1982, she twice failed in an attempt to be elected to the Dublin North Central constituency of Dáil Éireann.[21]
In 2003, she was barred from entering the United States and deported on the grounds that the State Department had declared that she "poses a serious threat to the security of the United States", although she protested that she had no terrorist involvement — hinging ostensibly on her conviction for incitement to riot in 1969 — but had frequently been permitted to travel to the United States in the past.[22][23][24]
In 1971, while still unmarried, she gave birth to a daughter Róisín.[3] This cost her some support in conservative Roman Catholic areas.[11] She married Michael McAliskey on 23 April 1973, which was her 26th birthday.
On 12 May 2007, she was guest speaker at éirígí's first Annual James Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin.[25] She is currently involved in the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme,[26] and works with migrant workers to improve their treatment in Northern Ireland.[3]
At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival a biopic of Devlin was announced,[3] but Devlin stated that "[t]he whole concept is abhorrent to me" and the film was not made.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Forrest |
Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster 1969–1974 |
Succeeded by John Dunlop |
| Preceded by Leslie Huckfield |
Baby of the House 1969–1974 |
Succeeded by Dafydd Elis-Thomas |
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