Seamus Frederick Mallon (Irish: Séamus Feardorcha Ó Meallain) born 17 August 1936, in Markethill, County Armagh, is a Northern Irish politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland. He served as the first Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2001 and as acting Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2001.

Background[link]

Seamus Mallon was educated at the Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School in Newry and St. Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh. As a career he chose teaching, becoming headmaster of St. James's Primary School in Markethill.^[1] Mallon was also involved in the Gaelic Athletic Association, playing Gaelic football for County Armagh.

Introduction to politics[link]

During the sixties he was involved in the civil rights movement,^[2] especially in his native Armagh. In 1979, when John Hume went from being deputy leader of the SDLP (under Gerry Fitt) to leader, Mallon became deputy leader.^[2] He was elected to the first power-sharing Assembly in 1973, and to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975^[1] representing Armagh. Between May and December 1982 Mallon was appointed by the then Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Charles Haughey to the Republic's upper house, Seanad Éireann.

In 1982 he was elected to the new Northern Ireland Assembly, set up as part of then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Prior's rolling devolution. However due to his membership of the Seanad he was disqualified.^[1] Under legislation of the time, no elected member of a British parliament or regional assembly could serve in a parliament outside the United Kingdom without losing their British seat. That restriction was removed with regards to the Oireachtas by the Disqualifications Act 2000.

In 1986 he was elected to Westminster as an MP for Newry & Armagh, a seat he held until 2005. He won the seat in a by-election to replace Jim Nicholson, who had resigned his seat in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, along with all the other Northern Irish unionist MPs.^[2] Nicholson was the only MP to fail to be re-elected.

Famously, Mallon asserted that the Good Friday Agreement was "Sunningdale for slow learners", referring to the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement.^[3]

Deputy First Minister[link]

Mallon has remained a strong opponent of IRA violence. He has also been in favour of police reform in Northern Ireland. In 1994 he became a member of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. Following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 Mallon became Deputy First Minister in the Assembly, serving alongside Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble.^[4]

Retirement[link]

In 2001 Seamus Mallon retired, along with John Hume, from the leadership of the SDLP.^[5] Mark Durkan replaced both; Hume as leader and Mallon as Deputy First Minister, when the Northern Ireland Executive was re-established following a suspension.

Mallon did not contest his seat in the Stormont Assembly in the 2003 elections, and stood down at the 2005 Westminster election. His seat was taken, as expected, by Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin.^[6]

Personal[link]

He is married to the former Gertrude Cush, and they have one child.

References[link]

William Frederick "Willie" Frazer (b. 8 July 1960)^[1] is the founder and leader of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) in Northern Ireland. He was also a leader of the Love Ulster campaign.^[2]

Background[link]

William Frazer grew up in the village of Whitecross in County Armagh. He is an ex-member of the Territorial Army, and a member of Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster.^[3] He attended a local Catholic school. His father, Bertie, who was a member of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), was shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 30 August 1975. Over the next ten years four members of Frazer's family who were members or ex-members of the police or armed forces were killed by the IRA.^[4] An uncle of Frazer's who was a member of the UDR was also wounded in a gun attack.^[5]

During the Drumcree conflict, Frazer was a supporter of members of the Orange Order who were demanding the right to march down the Garvaghy Road against the wishes of local residents.^[6] Frazer was president of his local Apprentice Boys club at the time.^[7]

For a brief period, Frazer ran "The Spot", a nightclub in Tandragee, County Armagh, which closed down after two Protestant civilians, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, who had been in the club were stabbed to death in February 2000 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), after one of them had allegedly made derogatory remarks about dead UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade leader Richard Jameson.^[8] Frazer was confronted in an interview on Radio Ulster about the murders by the father of one of the victims.

Frazer applied for a licence to hold a firearm for his personal protection and was turned down, a chief inspector said, based on intelligence that he was known to associate with members of loyalist paramilitaries.^[9]

FAIR campaign[link]

FAIR claims to represent the victims of IRA violence in South Armagh. It has been criticised by some, however, for not doing the same for victims of loyalist paramilitary organisations or for those killed by security forces. In the past, Frazer had said of loyalist paramilitary prisoners that "they should never have been locked up in the first place", and that he had "a lot of time for Billy Wright".^[10] He has also defended alleged security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, stating in an interview with Susan McKay: "If you were in the UDR and your brother was shot, are you telling me you wouldn't [pass information on to loyalists]? ... See if a Paki comes from India and kills a Provo? I'm going to shake his hand."^[5]

In January 2007 Frazer dismissed Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's report^[11] into security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.^[12]

In September 2010 the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) revoked all funding to FAIR (more than £800,000 over 3 years) due to "major failures in the organisation's ability to adhere to the conditions associated with its funding allocation" uncovered following a "thorough audit" of the tendering and administration procedures used by FAIR. In a statement the SEUPB said: "The SEUPB is charged with ensuring the proper use of public money and as such has no option but to revoke all financial assistance, (amounting to approximately £880,000), that has been offered to the organisation... FAIR has been given every opportunity to respond to and address these issues. The decision to revoke and recover all financial assistance given to the project has not been taken lightly, however, given the seriousness of the issues no other recourse is available."^[13]

In November 2011 a European funding body announced that it was seeking the return of funding to FAIR and another Markethill victims group, Saver/Naver. FAIR was being asked to return £350,000 while Saver/Naver was being asked to return £200,000.^[14]

Political activity[link]

In addition to his advocacy for victims, Frazer has contested several elections in County Armagh. He has never been elected, and on most occasions lost his deposit. He ran as an Ulster Independence Movement candidate in the 1996 Forum Elections and the 1998 Assembly elections, and as an independent in the 2003 Assembly elections and a council by-election.

In 2004 Frazer invited to South Armagh Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, an advocate of citizen's militias who had written approvingly of their use against insurgencies in Central America and the Philippines.^[15]

Frazer came to wider attention in October 2005 when he got into a public argument with a Redemptorist priest, Father Alec Reid. Frazer made remarks that Catholics had butchered Protestants during the troubles. Father Reid likened unionist treatment of Catholics to the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis. Reid later apologised for the remark, saying he had lost his temper. Frazer reported Reid to the police for incitement to hatred,^[16] but no legal action ensued.

Frazer's best electoral showing was 1,427 votes, 25.9%, in a Newry and Mourne District Council by-election in August 2006 when Frazer had the backing of the local UUP and DUP. The total votes polled 5,587 (47.6% of the local electorate); it was a two candidate race for the Fews Area between Frazer and Sinn Féin candidate Turlough Murphy. The combined Unionist vote in 2005 in the area had been 2,446.

In his most recent outing, in the 2010 UK Parliamentary general election Frazer contested the Newry and Armagh UK Parliamentary constituency as an independent candidate. He received 656 votes (1.5%). The seat was retained by Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy who received 18,857 votes.^[17]

In the 2011 Assembly elections he was listed as a subscriber for the Traditional Unionist Voice candidate for the Newry and Armagh constituency, Barrie Halliday. ^[18]

Love Ulster parade[link]

Frazer was an organiser of the Love Ulster parade in Dublin that had to be cancelled due to rioting. In January 2007, Frazer protested outside the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin that voted to join policing structures in Northern Ireland. He "expressed outrage at the idea that the 'law-abiding population' would negotiate with terrorists to get them to support democracy, law and order."^[12]

Recent activity[link]

In March 2010 Frazer claimed to have served a civil writ on deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Féin, seeking damages arising from the killing of Frazer's father by the IRA. Sinn Féin and the courts denied that any such writ had been served, but in June 2010 Frazer announced that he would seek to progress his claim in the High Court.^[19] There has since been no report of any such litigation.

When McGuinness stood for election in the Irish presidential election, 2011 Frazer announced that he and FAIR would picket the main Sinn Féin election events. He said, "If the people of the South want a terrorist to represent them around the world as their president then heaven help them."^[20] In the event, however, no such pickets took place.

In October 2011 he attended a protest in Pomeroy against the use of rubble from a demolished police station to level out the playing field of the local GAA club, which hosts an annual tug-of-war event in memory of Seamus Woods, an IRA member killed by the premature explosion of a mortar while attacking the station.^[21] The station was the target of many such IRA attacks during The Troubles.^[22] Frazer stated that "moving the rubble to the GAA club would cause a lot of heartache for many families. The unionist population is small in Pomeroy and they certainly feel betrayed."^[21]

After attending a Sinn Fein conference in November 2011 in Newry he reacted furiously to an apology by Ulster Unionist Party MLA John McCallister for "unionist failings" in the past. Frazer stated that people were "appalled" by McCallister's remarks.^[23]

In 2012 when the city council in Florence, Italy, announced its intention to name a street in honour of the late IRA member and hunger striker Bobby Sands, Frazer condemned the move and stated that he wanted a meeting with the council to discuss the issue.^[24]

In May 2012, after seeing the Italian flag being flown as part of a cultural event held in Donaghmore's St Patrick's Primary School and mistaking it for the Irish Tricolour, Frazer accused the school for 4-11 year old children of being "the junior headquarters of SF/IRA youth", stating on Facebook that "I wounder do they also train the children in how to use weapons, for it seems they can do what they wont.[sic]" Concerned for the safety of students and the school's reputation, teachers informed police of the accusations and photographs of the school posted by Frazer were later removed from Facebook.^[25]

See also[link]

• Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine killings

References[link]

1. ^ FAIR booklet stating full name and birth date
2. ^ McKay, Susan (2005). Northern Protestants: An unsettled people. The Blackstaff Press. ISBN 978-0-85640-771-0. 
3. ^ McKay, Pgs:195
4. ^ McKay, Pgs: 188-189
5. ^ ^{a b} McKay, Pgs:194
6. ^ McKay, Pgs: 192 -193
7. ^ McKay, Pgs: 192
8. ^ BBC news report of 2000 murders
9. ^ Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (cache)
10. ^ Susan McKay, "Bitter Hatreds that underpin Love Ulster Parade in Dublin", The Irish Times, 25 February 2006
11. ^ www.indymedia.ie Ballast Public Stateemnt 2007
12. ^ ^{a b} "Disgusting justification for sectarian murders", by Susan McKay, Irish News, 30 January 2007
13. ^ "Victims group FAIR has £800,000 European funding axed". BBC News. 15 September 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11307108. 
14. ^ "Victims group FAIR has to return £350,000 of European funding". BBC News. 9 November 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15644147. 
15. ^ Nuzhound article
16. ^ "Witness likens unionists to Nazis" bbc.co.uk, 12 October 2005
17. ^ Statement of Persons Nominated
18. ^ http://www.eoni.org.uk/newry_and_armagh_and_upper_bann_candidates.pdf
19. ^ McGuinness facing civil court action, The News Letter, 21 June 2010
20. ^ Victims group to picket McGuinness campaign-The News Letter, 11 October 2011
21. ^ ^{a b} Victims feel betrayed over rubble row, The News Letter, 11 October 2011
22. ^ Pomeroy police station to be demolished. The Ulster Herald. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
23. ^ Willie Frazer furious over UUP deputy's apology for Unionist failings,Belfast Telegraph,21 November 2011
24. ^ "Hunger striker gets Italian street cred" The Sun, 14 March 2012
25. ^ IRA HQ claim over school's Italian flag,UTV, 17 May 2012

External links[link]

• FAIR website

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Seamus Malin (born September 3, 1940) in Dublin, Ireland, is a former journalist for ESPN. Malin most often commentates on soccer events, such as the UEFA Champions League and World Cup.

He also worked with the NASL's Boston Minutemen and New York Cosmos. He also called World Cup matches for NBC, ABC, and Turner Network Television, plus matches on CBS when the network had NASL rights.

In 2005, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a media representative.

Malin is graduate of Harvard University and played with Chris Ohiri whilst there. At one time, he served in the school's admissions department.

External links[link]

• NSHF bio

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