Desmond Boal

Desmond Boal (born 1929, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a former Unionist politician and barrister from Northern Ireland.^[1]

Boal had a legal career before he entered politics in 1960. He was the Unionist member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the Shankill constituency between 1960 and 1972. He was very critical of the leadership under Captain Terence O'Neill, then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Boal opposed the manner, if not the substance, of O'Neill's attempts at improving relations with both the Irish government and the Roman Catholic nationalist minority in Northern Ireland, along with many backbenchers.^[2]

Discontented with James Chichester-Clark and Brian Faulkner who came to Government after O'Neill's 1969 fall from power, Boal resigned from the Unionist Party in 1971 and joined Ian Paisley, in establishing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order to provide dissident Unionist opinion with a viable political alternative. He worked as the first Chairman and one of the first public representatives of the DUP and continued to sit in Stormont during the years of 1971-1972. He later resumed his practice as a barrister.

References

^ "New alliance starts in Ulster". Leader-Post (AP). 18 August 1971. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OvBUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ljwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1174,3212075&dq=desmond-boal&hl=en. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
^ Northern Ireland - A Political Directory, 1968-1999, Sydney Elliott and W.D. Flackes (eds); Belfast: The Blackstaff Press; ISBN 0-85640-628-7

Parliament of Northern Ireland
Preceded by Henry Holmes	Member of Parliament for Belfast Shankill 1960 - 1972	Succeeded by Position prorogued 1972 Parliament abolished 1973
Party political offices
Preceded by New position	Chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party 1971–1973	Succeeded by William Beattie

Democratic Unionist Party

Leaders	Ian Paisley (1971-2008) · Peter Robinson (2008-present)

Deputy Leaders	William Beattie (1971–1980) · Peter Robinson (1980–2008) · Nigel Dodds (2008–present)

Chair	Desmond Boal (1971–1973) · William Beattie (1973–1980) · James McClure (1980–2000) · Maurice Morrow (2000–present)

Party Secretary	Peter Robinson (1975–1979) · William Beattie (1980–1983) · Alan Kane (1983–1992) · Nigel Dodds (1993-2008) · Michelle McIlveen (2008–present)

History	Forerunners: Ulster Protestant Action (1956-1966) · Protestant Unionist Party (1966-1971) Splinter group: Traditional Unionist Voice (2007-)

Persondata
Name	Boal, Desmond
Alternative names
Short description	Northern Irish politician, activist and barrister
Date of birth	1929
Place of birth	County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
Date of death
Place of death