Austin Currie
Austin Currie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of State for Justice | |
| In office 20 December 1994 – 26 June 1997 | |
| Taoiseach | John Bruton |
| Preceded by | Willie O'Dea |
| Succeeded by | Mary Wallace |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office June 1989 – May 2002 | |
| Constituency | Dublin West |
| Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for East Tyrone | |
| In office 30 May 1964 – 30 March 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Francis Stewart |
| Succeeded by | Parliament suspended |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Austin Currie 11 October 1939 Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Fine Gael SDLP |
| Spouse(s) | Annita Currie (m. 1968) |
| Children | 5 (including Emer Currie[1]) |
| Residence | Allenwood, Kildare, Ireland |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Joseph Austin Currie (born 11 October 1939) is an Irish former Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Fine Gael politician who served as Minister of State for Justice from 1994 to 1997. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1989 to 2002 and Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (MP) for East Tyrone from 1964 to 1972.
Currie was born in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to a Catholic family. He was educated in Dungannon and at Queen's University Belfast. Between 1964 and 1972, he was the Nationalist Party Stormont MP for East Tyrone. On 20 June 1968, Currie squatted at a Kinnard Park house given to a Unionist secretary during a housing protest in Caledon.[2] All 14 houses in the new council development had been allocated to Protestants.[3] Currie's protest was later accpeted by the Nationalist Party.[4] This was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.[3]
In 1999, Currie spoke in the Irish Parliament on the effect of partition on Catholics in Northern Ireland: "Partition was used to try to cut us off from the rest of the Irish nation. Unionists did their best to stamp out our nationalism and, the educational system, to the extent it could organise it, was oriented to Britain and we were not even allowed to use names such as Séamus or Seán. When my brothers' godparents went to register their birth, they were told no such names as Séamus or Seán existed in Northern Ireland and were asked for the English equivalent."[5]
He became an active member in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. In 1970, he was a founder of the group that established the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). From 1973 to 1974, Currie was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In 1974, he became chief whip of the SDLP. That same year he became Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning in the Northern Ireland Executive.
He contested the 1979 United Kingdom general election and 1986 by-election in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat. He also was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for the same seat.
By 1989, Currie had decided to move south, and at the general election of that year he was elected as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála for the Dublin West constituency.[6][7]
In 1990, after much procrastination, Fine Gael nominated him as a candidate at the presidential election. He finished a distant third in the election after Mary Robinson and Brian Lenihan. However, his transfers flowed overwhelmingly to Robinson, helping Robinson overtake Lenihan and make her Ireland's first female President.
In the Rainbow Coalition between 1994 and 1997, he became Minister of State at the Departments of Education, Justice and Health. At the 2002 general election he lost his seat in Dáil Éireann when he failed to be elected in Dublin Mid-West. He immediately announced his retirement from politics.
He currently resides in County Kildare. He occasionally lectures and gives talks on issues relating to The Troubles.[8] Following the deaths of Seamus Mallon and John Hume in January and August 2020 respectively, he became the last-surviving founder of the SDLP.
Reading[]
- Austin Currie (2004). All Hell Will Break Loose, Dublin: O'Brien Press.
References[]
- ^ "'We intend on being prepared for election' - daughter of former Fine Gael minister selected as Varadkar's running mate". independent.ie. The Independent. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ Clarke, Liam (21 December 2015). "Lord Kilclooney: 'I'm impressed by Martin McGuinnness' development'". Belfast Telegraph.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Dwyer, T. Ryle (4 October 2008). "The spark that lit the Troubles is still smouldering in the embers". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "A Chronology of the Conflict – 1968". Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- ^ "British-Irish Agreement Bill, 1999: Second Stage (Resumed)". Houses of the Oireachtas. 9 March 1999. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ "Austin Currie". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- ^ "Austin Currie". Oireachtas Members Database. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- ^ Ross, Shane (23 November 2008). "Where are they now: Austin Currie". Irish Independent.
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- 1939 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
- Candidates for President of Ireland
- Fine Gael TDs
- Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1962–1965
- Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1965–1969
- Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973
- Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974
- Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention
- Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986
- Members of the 26th Dáil
- Members of the 27th Dáil
- Members of the 28th Dáil
- Nationalist Party (Ireland) members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
- Social Democratic and Labour Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
- Ministers of State of the 27th Dáil
- Politicians from County Tyrone
- Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Tyrone constituencies
- Executive ministers of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly