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Edward Gerard McAteer (25 June 1914 – 25 March 1986) was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. He was born in Coatbridge, Scotland, to Hugh McAteer and Brigid McAteer (née O'Doherty). McAteer's family moved to Derry in Northern Ireland while he was young. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenue, where he worked until 1944. He then became an accountant and more actively involved in politics. While his brother, Hugh, became a prominent Irish republican in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin, Eddie chose constitutional nationalist politics. He was elected as the Nationalist Party Member of Parliament for Mid Londonderry in the 1945 Northern Ireland general election. He was co-founder of the Irish Anti-Partition League, founded in 1946, and became its vice chairman in 1947, then its chairman in 1953.

In 1952, McAteer was elected to Londonderry Corporation, and the following year he switched to represent Foyle in the Northern Ireland House of Commons. He left the city council in 1958 and became deputy leader of the Nationalist Party at Stormont. McAteer became prominent in the campaign calling for the establishment of a university in Derry.

In 1964, he became the leader of the Nationalist Party. The following year he accepted the post of Leader of the Opposition thereby conferring de facto recognition of the Northern Irish government (by Nationalists) for the first time. Several years later he lost his seat in the 1969 Northern Ireland general election to John Hume. In his early career, he had published Irish Action, a blueprint for civil disobedience; however, he repeatedly called for moderation throughout the civil rights campaign.

In the 1970 United Kingdom general election, McAteer stood in Londonderry on the Unity slate, taking 36.6% of the vote. He again contested Londonderry in the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973 election, taking only 3,712 votes and narrowly missing being elected. With the ascendancy of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Nationalist Party was in disarray. McAteer took his remaining supporters into the Irish Independence Party in 1978, in which his son Fergus became prominent.

References

Citations

1. ^ "RTÉ Archives | Eddie McAteer". RTÉ Archives. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
2. Phoenix, Eamon (October 2009). "McAteer, Edward Gerard (Eddie) | Dictionary of Irish Biography". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
3. "History – The Bogside". The Museum of Free Derry. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
4. Parkinson & Phoenix 2010, p. 151.
5. "BBC NI – Schools – GCSE Bitesize Revision – History – History Makers – Eddie McAteer". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 December 2003. Retrieved 9 October 2006.

Bibliography

• Parkinson, Alan; Phoenix, Eamon (2010). Conflicts in the North of Ireland, 1900-2000. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-1-84682-189-9.

Sources

• Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies, election.demon.co.uk; accessed 27 May 2017.

External links

• 'Derry City Ireland - 1964 (Radharc): McAteer interviewed at length during this documentary of August 1964

• 1914 births
• 1986 deaths
• Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1945–1949
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1949–1953
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1953–1958
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1958–1962
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1962–1965
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1965–1969
• Nationalist Party (Ireland) members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
• People from Coatbridge
• Councillors in Derry (city)
• Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Londonderry constituencies
• Politicians from North Lanarkshire