Martin McGuinness: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox |
{{Infobox Deputy First Minister |
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| name |
| name=Martin McGuinness |
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| honorific-suffix = |
| honorific-suffix = [[Member of Parliament|MP]] [[Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly|MLA]] |
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| image |
| image=Martin McGuinness2.jpg |
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| |
|imagesize = 155px |
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| order= |
| order=3rd |
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| office=Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland |
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| office = <!-- Please read the talk page before changing between capitalization -->[[deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland]]<ref>[http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/about-ofmdfm/ministers.htm About the Department] Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister</ref> |
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| term_start |
| term_start=8 May 2007 |
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| term_end |
| term_end= |
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| firstminister |
| firstminister=[[Ian Paisley]]<br>[[Peter Robinson (politician)|Peter Robinson]] |
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| predecessor |
| predecessor=[[Mark Durkan]] |
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| office2 = [[Department of Education (Northern Ireland)|Minister of Education]] |
| office2 = [[Department of Education (Northern Ireland)|Minister of Education]] |
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| term_start2 = November 1998 |
| term_start2 = November 1998 |
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| term_end2 = 8 May 2007 |
| term_end2 = 8 May 2007 |
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| firstminister2 |
| firstminister2=[[David Trimble]] |
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| deputy firstminister2 |
| deputy firstminister2=[[Seamus Mallon]] |
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| predecessor2= ''Position created'' |
| predecessor2= ''Position created'' |
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| successor2=[[Caitríona Ruane]] |
| successor2=[[Caitríona Ruane]] |
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| constituency_MP3=[[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]] |
| constituency_MP3=[[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]] |
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| term_start3= |
| term_start3=1 May 1997 |
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| term_end3= |
| term_end3= |
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| majority3=10,976 (24.2%) |
| majority3=10,976 (24.2%) |
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| constituency_AM4=[[Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency)|Mid Ulster]] |
| constituency_AM4=[[Mid Ulster (Assembly constituency)|Mid Ulster]] |
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| assembly4=Northern Ireland |
| assembly4=Northern Ireland |
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| term_start4= |
| term_start4=25 June 1998 |
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| term_end4= |
| term_end4= |
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| predecessor4= |
| predecessor4= (none) |
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| birth_date={{birth date and age|df=yes|1950|5|23}} |
| birth_date={{birth date and age|df=yes|1950|5|23}} |
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| birth_place=[[Derry]], [[Northern Ireland]] |
| birth_place=[[Derry]], [[Northern Ireland]] |
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| party=[[Sinn Féin]] |
| party=[[Sinn Féin]] |
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| nationality=[[Irish people|Irish]] |
| nationality= [[Irish people|Irish]] |
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| religion=[[Roman Catholic]] |
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]] |
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| spouse=Bernadette McGuinness |
| spouse=Bernadette McGuinness |
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| website=[http://www.sinnfein.ie/ |
| website=[http://www.sinnfein.ie/elections/candidate/3 Martin McGuinness MP MLA] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''James Martin Pacelli McGuinness''' ({{lang-ga|Máirtín Mag Aonghusa}};<ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/ |
'''James Martin Pacelli McGuinness''' ({{lang-ga|Máirtín Mag Aonghusa}};<ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/9315 Ag cur Gaeilge ar ais i mbéal an phobail - Fórógra Shinn Féin do na Toghcháin Westminster] — [[Sinn Féin]] press release, released 22 April 2005.</ref> born in Londonderry/[[Derry]] on 23 May 1950) is an [[Ireland|Irish]] [[politician]] and the current [[deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland]]. |
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A [[Sinn Féin]] politician and former [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) leader<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1303355.stm Profile] BBC News]</ref>, McGuinness is the [[Member of Parliament|MP]] for the [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster constituency]]. Like all Sinn Féin MPs, McGuinness practises [[abstentionism]] at Westminster. He is also a member of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] for the same constituency. Following the [[St Andrews Agreement]] and the [[Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007|Assembly election in 2007]], he became [[deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland]] with [[Democratic Unionist Party]] (DUP) leader [[Ian Paisley]] as [[First Minister of Northern Ireland]] on 8 May 2007. He was re-appointed, with [[Peter Robinson (politician)|Peter Robinson]] as First Minister, on 5 June 2008.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/northern_ireland/7438306.stm "Robinson is new NI first minister"], BBC News, 5 June 2008 |
A [[Sinn Féin]] politician and former [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) leader<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1303355.stm BBC Profile] BBC News]</ref>, McGuinness is the [[Member of Parliament|MP]] for the [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster constituency]], the seat once held by [[Bernadette Devlin McAliskey]]. Like all Sinn Féin MPs, McGuinness practises [[abstentionism]] at Westminster. He is also a member of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] for the same constituency. Following the [[St Andrews Agreement]] and the [[Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007|Assembly election in 2007]], he became [[deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland]] with [[Democratic Unionist Party]] (DUP) leader [[Ian Paisley]] as [[First Minister of Northern Ireland]] on 8 May 2007. He was re-appointed, with [[Peter Robinson (politician)|Peter Robinson]] as First Minister, on 5 June 2008.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/northern_ireland/7438306.stm "Robinson is new NI first minister"], BBC News, 5 June 2008. Accessed [[2008-06-05]].</ref> He served as Minister of Education in the [[Northern Ireland Executive]] between 1999 and 2002. |
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==Provisional IRA activity== |
==Provisional IRA activity== |
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McGuinness joined the IRA around 1970 at the age of 20, after [[the Troubles]] broke out |
McGuinness joined the IRA around 1970 at the age of 20, after [[the Troubles]] broke out. By the start of 1972, at the age of 21, he was second-in-command of the IRA in Derry, a position he held at the time of [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1308899.stm McGuinness confirms IRA role] BBC News website, 2 May 2001</ref> A claim was made at the [[Saville Inquiry]] that McGuinness was responsible for supplying detonators for nail bombs on Bloody Sunday where 14 civil rights marchers were killed by British soldiers in Derry. Paddy Ward claimed he was the leader of the [[Fianna Éireann|Fianna]], the youth wing of the IRA in January 1972. He claimed McGuinness, the second-in-command of the IRA in the city at the time, and another anonymous member gave him bomb parts on the morning of 30 January, the date planned for the civil rights march. He said his organisation intended to attack city-centre premises in Derry on the day when civilians were shot dead by British soldiers. In response McGuinness said the claims were "fantasy", while Gerry O’Hara, a Sinn Féin councillor in Derry stated that he and not Ward was the Fianna leader at the time.<ref>[http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=628&id=1161662003 McGuinness is named as bomb runner] by John Innes, The Scotsman, 21 October 2003</ref> |
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| ⚫ | McGuinness negotiated alongside [[Gerry Adams]] with the [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], [[William Whitelaw|Willie Whitelaw]], in 1972. He was convicted by the [[Republic of Ireland|Republic of Ireland's]] [[Special Criminal Court]] in 1973, after being caught with a car containing 250 lb (113 kg) of explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition. He refused to recognize the court, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. In the court he declared his membership of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] without equivocation: 'We have fought against the killing of our people... I am a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann and very, very proud of it'.<ref>{{cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Taylor (Journalist) | title = Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin | publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]] | year = 1997 | pages = 152–153 | doi = | isbn = 0-7475-3818-2 }}</ref> |
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Ultimately, the Saville Inquiry was inconclusive on McGuiness' role due to a lack of certainty over his movements, concluding that while he was "engaged in paramilitary activity" during Bloody Sunday, and had probably been armed with a [[Thompson submachine gun]], there was insufficient evidence to make any finding other than they were "sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire".<ref name=SavilleMcGuinness3119>{{cite web|url=http://report.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org/volume01/chapter003/#the-report |title=Report of the The Bloody Sunday Inquiry - Volume I - Chapter 3 |publisher=Bloody Sunday Inquiry |date=15 June 2010 |accessdate=15 June 2010 |quote=3.119 In the course of investigating the activities of the Provisional and Official IRA on the day, we considered at some length allegations that Martin McGuinness, at that time the Adjutant of the Derry Brigade or Command of the Provisional IRA, had engaged in paramilitary activity during the day. In the end we were left in some doubt as to his movements on the day. Before the soldiers of Support Company went into the Bogside he was probably armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun, and though it is possible that he fired this weapon, there is insufficient evidence to make any finding on this, save that we are sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire.}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | After his release, and another conviction in the Republic for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Féin, the political wing of the [[Republican Movement (Ireland)|Republican Movement]]. He was in indirect contact with British intelligence during the [[1981 Irish hunger strike|hunger strikes]] in the early 1980s, and in the early 1990s.<ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/peace/document/80 Setting the Record Straight] Sinn Féin website</ref> He was elected to a short-lived assembly at [[Parliament Building of Northern Ireland|Stormont]] in 1982, and was then banned from entering Great Britain under the [[Prevention of Terrorism Act (Northern Ireland)|Prevention of Terrorism Act]].<ref>{{cite web | last = | first = | title = Martin McGuinness MP Mid Ulster | url= http://www.sinnfeinonline.com/representatives/386 | accessdate = 2007-03-22 }}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | McGuinness negotiated alongside [[Gerry Adams]] with the [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], [[William Whitelaw|Willie Whitelaw]], in 1972. He was convicted by the [[Republic of Ireland|Republic of Ireland's]] [[Special Criminal Court]] in 1973, after being caught with a car containing 250 |
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| ⚫ | In August 1993, he was the subject of a two part special by the ''[[The Cook Report]]'', a [[Central TV]] investigative documentary series presented by [[Roger Cook (journalist)|Roger Cook]]. It accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegarty's mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness and of Hegarty's subsequent murder. McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying "I have never been in the IRA. I don't have any sway over the IRA".<ref>[http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1840187255 Martin McGuinness: From Guns to Government] Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston, ISBN 1-84018-725-5</ref> |
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| ⚫ | After his release, and another conviction in the Republic for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Féin, the political wing of the [[Republican Movement (Ireland)|Republican Movement]]. He was in indirect contact with British intelligence during the [[1981 Irish hunger strike|hunger strikes]] in the early 1980s, and in the early 1990s.<ref>[http://www.sinnfein.ie/gaelic/peace/document/80 Setting the Record Straight] Sinn Féin</ref> He was elected to a short-lived |
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| ⚫ | In 2005, [[Michael McDowell]], the Irish [[Tánaiste]], claimed McGuinness, along with Gerry Adams and [[Martin Ferris]], were members of the seven-man [[IRA Army Council]].<ref>[http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/21/nira21.xml Adams and McGuinness named as IRA leaders]'' [[Daily Telegraph]]'' 21 February 2005</ref> McGuinness denied the claims, saying he was no longer an IRA member. |
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| ⚫ | In August 1993, he was the subject of a two part special by the ''[[The Cook Report]]'', a [[Central TV]] investigative documentary series presented by [[Roger Cook (journalist)|Roger Cook]]. It accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegarty's mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness and of Hegarty's subsequent murder. McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying "I have never been in the IRA. I don't have any sway over the IRA".<ref> |
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| ⚫ | Experienced "troubles" journalist [[Peter Taylor (journalist)|Peter Taylor]] presented further apparent evidence of McGuinness's role in the IRA in his documentary ''Age of Terror'', shown in April 2008.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7356159.stm Age of Terror], [[BBC]], 21 April 2008</ref> In his documentary, Taylor alleges that McGuinness was the head of the IRA's Northern Command which had advance knowledge of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]]'s 1987 [[Remembrance Day bombing|Enniskillen bombing]] which left 11 civilians dead. |
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| ⚫ | In 2005, [[Michael McDowell]], the Irish [[Tánaiste]], claimed McGuinness, along with Gerry Adams and [[Martin Ferris]], were members of the seven-man [[IRA Army Council]].<ref>[http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/21/nira21.xml Adams and McGuinness named as IRA leaders]'' [[Daily Telegraph]]'' |
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| ⚫ | Experienced " |
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==Chief negotiator and Minister of Education== |
==Chief negotiator and Minister of Education== |
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He became Sinn Féin's chief negotiator in the time leading to the [[Belfast Agreement]]. He |
He became Sinn Féin's chief negotiator in the time leading to the [[Belfast Agreement]]. He became MP for Mid Ulster in 1997, and after the Agreement was concluded, was returned as a member of the Assembly, and nominated by his party for a ministerial position in the power-sharing [[Northern Ireland Executive|executive]], where he became Minister of Education. One of his controversial acts as Minister of Education was his decision to scrap the [[Eleven plus exam|11-plus exam]], which he himself had failed as a schoolchild.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/549635.stm. McGuinness: Let's work together] BBC News website 4 December 1999</ref> He was re-elected to the Westminster Parliament in 2001, but along with the rest of his party has refused to take his seat there (see [[abstentionism]]). |
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In May 2003, transcripts of telephone calls between McGuinness and British officials including [[Mo Mowlam]], the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Jonathan Powell, [[Tony Blair|Tony Blair's]] Chief of Staff, were published in a biography of McGuinness entitled ''From Guns to Government''. The tapes had been made by [[MI5]] and the authors of the book were arrested under the [[ |
In May 2003, transcripts of telephone calls between McGuinness and British officials including [[Mo Mowlam]], the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Jonathan Powell, [[Tony Blair|Tony Blair's]] Chief of Staff, were published in a biography of McGuinness entitled ''From Guns to Government''. The tapes had been made by [[MI5]] and the authors of the book were arrested under the [[Official Secrets Act]]. The conversations showed an easy and friendly relationship between McGuinness and the British. He joked with Powell about Unionist MPs while Mowlam referred to him as "babe" and discussed her difficulties with Blair. In another transcript he praised [[Bill Clinton]] to [[Gerry Adams]].<ref>[http://cryptome.org/mcguinness-taps.htm Martin McGuinness Wiretap Transcripts<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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==St Andrews Agreement== |
==St Andrews Agreement== |
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[[File:President Barack Obama meets Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.jpg|thumb|left|200px|United States President [[Barack Obama]] meets with First Minister Peter Robinson and McGuinness in March 2009]] |
[[File:President Barack Obama meets Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.jpg|thumb|left|200px|United States President [[Barack Obama]] meets with First Minister Peter Robinson and McGuinness in March 2009.]] |
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In the weeks following the [[St Andrews Agreement]] between Paisley and Adams, the four parties — the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP — indicated their choice of ministries in the Executive and nominated members to fill them. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and [[Ian Paisley]] and Martin McGuinness |
In the weeks following the [[St Andrews Agreement]] between Paisley and Adams, the four parties — the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP — indicated their choice of ministries in the Executive and nominated members to fill them. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected [[Ian Paisley]] and Martin McGuinness as First Minister and Deputy First Minister. On 12 May the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to take up three places on the Policing Board, and nominated three MLAs to take them. |
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On 8 December 2007, while visiting President Bush in the [[White House]] with the Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness, the deputy First Minister, said to the press "Up until the 26 March this year, Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything – not even about the weather – and now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there's been no angry words between us. ... This shows we are set for a new course."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7123939.stm Paisley and McGuinness in US trip] BBC |
On 8 December 2007, while visiting President Bush in the [[White House]] with the Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness, the deputy First Minister, said to the press "Up until the 26 March this year, Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything – not even about the weather – and now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there's been no angry words between us. ... This shows we are set for a new course."<ref>Staff. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7123939.stm Paisley and McGuinness in US trip], BBC 3 December 2007, (Reference for deputy First Minister)</ref><ref>Martina Purdy [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7134094.stm 'Charming' ministers woo president] BBC, 8 December 2007 (Reference for the quote)</ref> |
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He married Bernadette Canning in 1974. They have four children, two girls and two boys. McGuinness is a fan of the [[Derry GAA|Derry]] [[Gaelic football]] and [[hurling]] teams<ref name="indep">{{cite news |first=Martin |last=McGuinness |title=Fanzone - Martin McGuinness |work=[[Irish Independent]] |date=26 August 2001 |accessdate=6 August 2009 |url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/fanzone-510029.html }}</ref> and played both sports when he was younger.<ref name="indep"/> He grew up just 50 yards from [[Celtic Park, Derry|Celtic Park]], the home of Derry [[Gaelic Athletic Association|GAA]].<ref name="indep"/> His brother<ref name="indep"/> [[Tom McGuinness (Gaelic footballer)|Tom]] played Gaelic football for Derry and is regarded as one of the county's best ever players.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ulster's 125 - Derry shortlist |work=[[The Irish News]] |date=10 February 2009 |accessdate=7 April 2009 |url=http://irishnews125.blogspot.com/2009/02/125-derry-player-list.html }}</ref> Among his honours are three [[Ulster Senior Football Championship]] medals, as well as [[Ulster Under-21 Football Championship|Ulster Under 21]] and [[All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship|All-Ireland Under 21 Championship]] medals.<ref>{{ citation | publisher =A-Star Design | date = 28 March 2009| journal = Red Hand View - Tyrone vs Derry (National League Division 1 Round 6 programme) | title= Derry Greats - Tom McGuinness }}</ref> |
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McGuinness is also a keen fisherman.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/14/northern-ireland-martin-mcguinness Hardliners vent their fury at Martin McGuinness] The Guardian, 14 March 2009</ref> |
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== Death Threats == |
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During April 2009 reports started appearing that Mr McGuinness had received death threats from dissident republicans, on the 24th April 2009 the Police Service Of Northern Ireland confirmed this [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8015881.stm] subsequently many people were reported to say "couldn't happen to a nicer guy". |
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| ⚫ | McGuinness married Bernadette Canning in 1974. They have four children, two girls and two boys. He is a fan of [[Derry City F.C.]]<ref name=McGuinness>Campbell, Denis. "[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,468041,00.html My team - Derry City: An interview with Martin McGuinness]", ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[2001-04-08]]. Retrieved on [[2007-05-08]]</ref> and the [[Derry GAA|Derry]] [[Gaelic football]] team. His brother Tom used to play Gaelic football for Derry and has among his honours two [[Ulster Senior Football Championship]] medals and one All-Ireland under-21 winner's medal. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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*[[Northern Ireland peace process]] |
*[[Northern Ireland peace process]] |
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*[[Operation Taurus]] |
*[[Operation Taurus]] |
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| ⚫ | |||
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm 30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire. A young Martin McGuinness gives the PIRA's reaction - VIDEO] |
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm 30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire. A young Martin McGuinness gives the PIRA's reaction - VIDEO] |
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/age_of_terror/default.stm Age Of Terror] |
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/age_of_terror/default.stm Age Of Terror] |
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{{commonscat|Martin McGuinness}} |
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*[http://www.newstatesman.com/human-rights/2010/02/ireland-ira-believe-due-doing Martin McGuinness interviewed] by James Macintyre on NewStatesman. |
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*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/martin-mcguinness Guardian - Special Report] |
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Revision as of 16:36, 15 June 2010
Martin McGuinness | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 3rd Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland | |
| Assumed office 8 May 2007 | |
| First Minister | Ian Paisley Peter Robinson |
| Preceded by | Mark Durkan |
| Minister of Education | |
| In office November 1998 – 8 May 2007 | |
| First Minister | David Trimble |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Succeeded by | Caitríona Ruane |
| Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster | |
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |
| Preceded by | William McCrea |
| Majority | 10,976 (24.2%) |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster | |
| Assumed office 25 June 1998 | |
| Preceded by | (none) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 May 1950 Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
| Spouse | Bernadette McGuinness |
| Website | Martin McGuinness MP MLA |
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (Irish: Máirtín Mag Aonghusa;[1] born in Londonderry/Derry on 23 May 1950) is an Irish politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.
A Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader[2], McGuinness is the MP for the Mid Ulster constituency, the seat once held by Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. Like all Sinn Féin MPs, McGuinness practises abstentionism at Westminster. He is also a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the same constituency. Following the St Andrews Agreement and the Assembly election in 2007, he became deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley as First Minister of Northern Ireland on 8 May 2007. He was re-appointed, with Peter Robinson as First Minister, on 5 June 2008.[3] He served as Minister of Education in the Northern Ireland Executive between 1999 and 2002.
Provisional IRA activity
McGuinness joined the IRA around 1970 at the age of 20, after the Troubles broke out. By the start of 1972, at the age of 21, he was second-in-command of the IRA in Derry, a position he held at the time of Bloody Sunday.[4] A claim was made at the Saville Inquiry that McGuinness was responsible for supplying detonators for nail bombs on Bloody Sunday where 14 civil rights marchers were killed by British soldiers in Derry. Paddy Ward claimed he was the leader of the Fianna, the youth wing of the IRA in January 1972. He claimed McGuinness, the second-in-command of the IRA in the city at the time, and another anonymous member gave him bomb parts on the morning of 30 January, the date planned for the civil rights march. He said his organisation intended to attack city-centre premises in Derry on the day when civilians were shot dead by British soldiers. In response McGuinness said the claims were "fantasy", while Gerry O’Hara, a Sinn Féin councillor in Derry stated that he and not Ward was the Fianna leader at the time.[5]
McGuinness negotiated alongside Gerry Adams with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Willie Whitelaw, in 1972. He was convicted by the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court in 1973, after being caught with a car containing 250 lb (113 kg) of explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition. He refused to recognize the court, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. In the court he declared his membership of the Provisional Irish Republican Army without equivocation: 'We have fought against the killing of our people... I am a member of Óglaigh na hÉireann and very, very proud of it'.[6]
After his release, and another conviction in the Republic for IRA membership, he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Republican Movement. He was in indirect contact with British intelligence during the hunger strikes in the early 1980s, and in the early 1990s.[7] He was elected to a short-lived assembly at Stormont in 1982, and was then banned from entering Great Britain under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.[8]
In August 1993, he was the subject of a two part special by the The Cook Report, a Central TV investigative documentary series presented by Roger Cook. It accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegarty's mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness and of Hegarty's subsequent murder. McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying "I have never been in the IRA. I don't have any sway over the IRA".[9]
In 2005, Michael McDowell, the Irish Tánaiste, claimed McGuinness, along with Gerry Adams and Martin Ferris, were members of the seven-man IRA Army Council.[10] McGuinness denied the claims, saying he was no longer an IRA member.
Experienced "troubles" journalist Peter Taylor presented further apparent evidence of McGuinness's role in the IRA in his documentary Age of Terror, shown in April 2008.[11] In his documentary, Taylor alleges that McGuinness was the head of the IRA's Northern Command which had advance knowledge of the IRA's 1987 Enniskillen bombing which left 11 civilians dead.
Chief negotiator and Minister of Education
He became Sinn Féin's chief negotiator in the time leading to the Belfast Agreement. He became MP for Mid Ulster in 1997, and after the Agreement was concluded, was returned as a member of the Assembly, and nominated by his party for a ministerial position in the power-sharing executive, where he became Minister of Education. One of his controversial acts as Minister of Education was his decision to scrap the 11-plus exam, which he himself had failed as a schoolchild.[12] He was re-elected to the Westminster Parliament in 2001, but along with the rest of his party has refused to take his seat there (see abstentionism).
In May 2003, transcripts of telephone calls between McGuinness and British officials including Mo Mowlam, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, were published in a biography of McGuinness entitled From Guns to Government. The tapes had been made by MI5 and the authors of the book were arrested under the Official Secrets Act. The conversations showed an easy and friendly relationship between McGuinness and the British. He joked with Powell about Unionist MPs while Mowlam referred to him as "babe" and discussed her difficulties with Blair. In another transcript he praised Bill Clinton to Gerry Adams.[13]
St Andrews Agreement
In the weeks following the St Andrews Agreement between Paisley and Adams, the four parties — the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP — indicated their choice of ministries in the Executive and nominated members to fill them. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as First Minister and Deputy First Minister. On 12 May the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to take up three places on the Policing Board, and nominated three MLAs to take them.
On 8 December 2007, while visiting President Bush in the White House with the Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness, the deputy First Minister, said to the press "Up until the 26 March this year, Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything – not even about the weather – and now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months and there's been no angry words between us. ... This shows we are set for a new course."[14][15]
Death Threats
During April 2009 reports started appearing that Mr McGuinness had received death threats from dissident republicans, on the 24th April 2009 the Police Service Of Northern Ireland confirmed this [1] subsequently many people were reported to say "couldn't happen to a nicer guy".
Personal life
McGuinness married Bernadette Canning in 1974. They have four children, two girls and two boys. He is a fan of Derry City F.C.[16] and the Derry Gaelic football team. His brother Tom used to play Gaelic football for Derry and has among his honours two Ulster Senior Football Championship medals and one All-Ireland under-21 winner's medal.
References
- ^ Ag cur Gaeilge ar ais i mbéal an phobail - Fórógra Shinn Féin do na Toghcháin Westminster — Sinn Féin press release, released 22 April 2005.
- ^ BBC Profile BBC News]
- ^ "Robinson is new NI first minister", BBC News, 5 June 2008. Accessed 2008-06-05.
- ^ McGuinness confirms IRA role BBC News website, 2 May 2001
- ^ McGuinness is named as bomb runner by John Innes, The Scotsman, 21 October 2003
- ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 152–153. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
- ^ Setting the Record Straight Sinn Féin website
- ^ "Martin McGuinness MP Mid Ulster". Retrieved 2007-03-22.
- ^ Martin McGuinness: From Guns to Government Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston, ISBN 1-84018-725-5
- ^ Adams and McGuinness named as IRA leaders Daily Telegraph 21 February 2005
- ^ Age of Terror, BBC, 21 April 2008
- ^ McGuinness: Let's work together BBC News website 4 December 1999
- ^ Martin McGuinness Wiretap Transcripts
- ^ Staff. Paisley and McGuinness in US trip, BBC 3 December 2007, (Reference for deputy First Minister)
- ^ Martina Purdy 'Charming' ministers woo president BBC, 8 December 2007 (Reference for the quote)
- ^ Campbell, Denis. "My team - Derry City: An interview with Martin McGuinness", The Guardian, 2001-04-08. Retrieved on 2007-05-08
See also
External links
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Martin McGuinness MP
- TheyWork ForYou.com - Martin McGuinness MP
- 30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire. A young Martin McGuinness gives the PIRA's reaction - VIDEO
- Age Of Terror
Categories:
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- UK MPs 2005-
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- Northern Ireland MLAs 1998-2003
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2003-2007
- Northern Ireland MLAs 2007-
- Northern Ireland Government ministers
- Members of the Northern Ireland Forum
- Provisional Irish Republican Army members
- People from Derry
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- Irish republicans imprisoned by non-jury courts
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