Raymond Ferguson

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Raymond Ferguson (born 16 February 1941) is a Northern Irish former rugby union player with Ulster Rugby and a politician with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

Early life and career

Part of a well established Ulster Unionist family in his native County Fermanagh, Ferguson represented his province at rugby.[1] He studied law at Queen's University, Belfast and subsequently practised as a solicitor, initially in Belfast and then Coleraine before establishing his own still extant legal partnership in Enniskillen.[2]

Politics

Ferguson gained his first elected office in 1977 when he was elected to Fermanagh District Council. He held a seat on the body until 2005.[3] He served as Council Chairman from 1981 to 1983.[1] He was chosen as UUP candidate for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency for the 1979 general election although the seat was retained by sitting Independent Republican MP Frank Maguire.[1] Ferguson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.[1]

Following the collapse of the Assembly Ferguson became a leading voice in support of the restoration of devolution and in 1988 advocated the adoption by the UUP of a policy in favour of negotiation with constitutional Irish nationalists on both sides of the border. His views were rejected at the annual UUP conference however.[1] The suggestion was labelled a "Lundy-like attack on the leadership" of the party by fellow Fermanagh delegate Sammy Foster.[4]

However Ferguson's moderate views made him popular with the Republic of Ireland's political leaders and he was offered a seat in the Seanad Éireann. He declined the offer due to his opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.[1] Nonetheless his support for cross-community politics continued and in 1992 he publicly criticised colleagues on Fermanagh Council for their refusal to rotate the Council chairmanship with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1993, The Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 159
  2. ^ Fergusons Solicitors - The Legal Teams
  3. ^ Fermanagh District Council Elections 1993-2005
  4. ^ Feargal Cochrane, Unionist Politics and the Politics of Unionism Since the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Cork University Press, 2001, p. 254

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