The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom. During the Troubles, the SDLP was the most popular Irish nationalist party in Northern Ireland, but since the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994 it has lost ground to the republican party Sinn Féin, which in 2001 became the more popular of the two parties for the first time. Established during the Troubles, a significant difference between the two parties was the SDLP's rejection of violence, in contrast to Sinn Féin's support for the Provisional IRA.

The SDLP is a social-democratic party affiliated to the Socialist International and Party of European Socialists. The SDLP has fraternal links with other European social democratic parties, including the Irish Labour Party and British Labour Party (neither of which contest elections in Northern Ireland).

Conall McDevitt, M.L.A. (born 1 June 1972), became National Secretary of Labour Youth (Ireland) in 1993 and Vice President of ECOSY (European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth) in 1994. The son of an Official IRA internee^{[citation needed]} and a great-grandson of a Belfast republican socialist, Danny McDevitt,^{[citation needed]} he became the Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) Director of Communications in November 1996 until December 1999.

He was involved in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement.^{[citation needed]} During the talks McDevitt acted as spokesperson for John Hume and Seamus Mallon. He left the SDLP to work as customer relations manager of Viridian Group PLC, then owners of Northern Ireland Electricity (N.I.E.), the monopoly electricity supplier in Northern Ireland.

Following the establishment of the power sharing Executive, McDevitt served as Special Adviser to the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Bríd Rodgers. He was involved in the attempts to resolve the standoff at Drumcree and advised Rodgers during the 2002 Foot and Mouth crisis in Northern Ireland when she received acclaim for her efforts.^{[citation needed]}

Fearghal McKinney (born 6 July 1962, Derry, Northern Ireland) is a journalist and political activist.

McKinney was a reporter and relief presenter on UTV Live, joining the station in 1994. Before joining UTV, he was a journalist at The Impartial Reporter in his hometown of Enniskillen and Downtown Radio.

In addition to his work for UTV Live, McKinney presented the series Sunday Issue and The Issue for UTV from 2003 to 2004. He has also reported on, introduced television debates about, and co-hosted UTV's coverage of local and general elections. McKinney was nominated in 2006 for the RTS Award for Nations and Regions Presenter.

In January 2009, McKinney announced his departure from UTV, and left the station that month.

On 10 March 2010, McKinney announced his intention to seek the nomination of the Social Democratic and Labour Party to contest the Parliamentary constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the 2010 Westminster general election. He was unsuccessful, polling 3574 votes which was six times less than that of Michelle Gildernew who retained the seat with a vote of 21,304. The total vote obtained by McKinney was half of what SDLP polled in 2005. Since the election on May 6, McKinney has been employed by the SDLP as a Communications Consultant.

Alban Maginness (Irish: Ailbín Mag Aonghusa^{[citation needed]}; born 9 July 1950) is a Roman Catholic politician in Northern Ireland.

Maginness was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He completed his secondary education at St. Malachy's College, Belfast. He then attended the New University of Ulster and subsequently Queen's University of Belfast where he trained to be a Queen's Counsellor.

While at university he became involved in the non-violent protests organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. Maginness participated in the famous civil rights march in Derry in 1972 at which British troops killed 14 unarmed civilians.^{[citation needed]} This event, now termed Bloody Sunday, has gone down in Northern Ireland politics as one of the turning points in The Troubles that contributed to the development of the Provisional IRA.

Maginness became increasingly involved in politics and became a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

He has been an elected member of Belfast City Council since 1985 and in 1997 he became the first Roman Catholic politician to hold the position of Lord Mayor of Belfast. In 1998 he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent Belfast North.

Gerry McGeough (born 1958, near Dungannon, County Tyrone) is a prominent Irish republican who was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), a former Sinn Féin activist and editor of the defunct The Hibernian magazine. McGeough broke with Sinn Féin in 2007 and he is now an independent republican activist. McGeough is currently serving 20 years imprisonment for attempted murder, although he is eligible for an early release under the Good Friday Agreement terms.

McGeough joined the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade in 1977, aged 19. After activity in Ireland and Europe, he was arrested (along with another IRA member, Gerry Hanratty) in August 1988 while crossing the Dutch-German border with two AK47 rifles in his car. He was charged with attacks on the British Army of the Rhine and held for four years in a specially-built German detention centre. His trial in Germany was interrupted by extradition to the United States, where he was charged with attempting to buy surface-to-air-missiles in 1983. He served three years of his sentence in US prisons until his release in 1996 whereupon he was deported to the Republic of Ireland.