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Gerry Kelly Gearóid Ó CeallaighMLA
Junior Minister at the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 May 2007Serving with Ian Paisley Jnr (2007-08); Jeffrey Donaldson (2008-09); Robin Newton (2009-)
Preceded by	Office Suspended Last officeholder: Denis Haughey
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 June 1998
Preceded by	New Creation
Personal details
Born	(1953-04-09) 9 April 1953 (age 71) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	Sinn Féin

Gerard "Gerry" Kelly (Template:Lang-ga, born 5 April 1953) is an Irish republican politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998. He is currently a member of Sinn Féin's Ard Chomhairle (National Executive) and an MLA for North Belfast.

Early life

Kelly was born in the lower Falls Road, Belfast in 1953 into a family of 11 siblings. He was educated at primary school level by the De La Salle Christian Brothers at St. Finian's Roman Catholic Primary School, located in the Falls Road area of west Belfast which was also Gerry Adams' primary school. Kelly was educated to a secondary level at St Peter’s Secondary School in Britton’s Parade, Belfast.

Kelly became involved in physical force republicanism in 1972.

Old Bailey attack

The IRA planted four car bombs in London on 8 March 1973. Two of the car bombs were defused but the other two exploded, one near the Old Bailey and the other at Scotland Yard. As a result of the explosions one person was killed and almost 200 people were injured.

Kelly, then aged 19, and eight others, including Hugh Feeney and sisters Marian and Dolours Price, were found guilty of various charges relating to the bombings on 14 November 1973. Kelly was convicted of causing explosions and conspiracy to cause explosions and received two life sentences plus twenty years.

Imprisonment and hunger strike

Upon imprisonment in England, Kelly, and the other prisoners went on hunger strike demanding political prisoner status and to be transferred to prisons in Northern Ireland. After 205 days on hunger strike, when Kelly was force fed 170 times by prison officers, Kelly was transferred to Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland in April 1975.

Whilst imprisoned in the Maze, Kelly again went on protest and made a number of escape attempts in 1977, 1982 and 1983. On 25 September 1983, Kelly was involved in the Maze Prison escape, the largest break-out of prisoners in Europe since World War II and in British prison history. Kelly, along with 37 other republican prisoners, armed with 6 hand-guns, hijacked a prison meals lorry and smashed their way out of HMP Maze past 40 prison wardens and 28 alarm systems. During the escape Kelly shot and injured a prison warden in the head as the officer attempted to foil the escape.

After the mass break-out Kelly was on the run for three years and again became involved in an active service unit in Europe. Whilst on the run Kelly claimed that he was aided in his escape by "all kinds of people," including prominent Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael supporters in the Republic of Ireland.

On 16 January 1986, Kelly was recaptured in the Netherlands along with Brendan "Bik" McFarlane at their flat in Amsterdam. At the time of their arrest, cash in several currencies, maps and fake passports and the keys to a storage container holding 14 rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition and nitrobenzene were recovered by the Dutch Police. On 4 December 1986, the pair were extradited from the Netherlands by RAF helicopter to the UK and returned to the Maze prison. On 2 June 1989 Kelly was released in line with the extradition conditions agreed with the Dutch authorities.

Political career

Upon leaving prison Kelly became actively involved in politics and was seen by Unionists as a communication link between the IRA and Sinn Féin. Kelly, and fellow Sinn Féin member, Martin McGuinness both engaged in protracted secret negotiations with representatives of the British Government from 1990 until 1993. All of these meetings are documented in the Sinn Féin booklet Setting the Record Straight. Kelly also published a collection of poetry entitled Words from a Cell in March 1989.

Kelly later became a leading member of Sinn Féin and played a role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998. In promoting the peace process he had talks with Nelson Mandela, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

On 27 June 1998 Kelly was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly. He was Deputy Chair of the Social Development Committee in the 1998-2003 Assembly, and is currently Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Policing and Justice.

References

1. British, Irish accord experts hold lecture on N. Ireland experience
2. Gerry Kelly - Biography from NI Assembly
3. GERRY KELLY MLA (SF)
4. The peace warriors
5. 14th November 1973: IRA gang convicted of London bombings
6. CAIN Web Service - A Chronology of the Conflict - 1973
7. Searcs Web Guide - Gerry Kelly
8. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary by Robert White (ISBN 978-0253347084), page 235
9. O'Day, Alan (1997). Political Violence in Northern Ireland: Conflict and Conflict Resolution. Praeger Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 978-0275954147.
10. Louisa Wright (10 October 1983). "The I.R.A.'s "Great Escape"". TIME. Retrieved 29 July 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
11. Maze party with jelly and ice cream by Nicola Byrne, The Observer Special Reports, 21 September 2003
12. Killers party at Maze escape night Unisoon Ireland
13. "Passport in man's home bore the name of another man". Irish Examiner. 30 April 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
14. "Westminster accepts them, but we don't". Irish Independent. 3 February 2002. Retrieved 14 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
15. "Dutch Extradite Two I.R.A. Fugitives". New York Times. 4 December 1986. Retrieved 11 March 2007. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
16. De Baróid, Ciarán (2000). Ballymurphy And The Irish War. Pluto Press. p. 337. ISBN 0-7453-1509-7.
17. Setting The Record Straight - Sinn Féin booklet as PDF download
18. ^ Gerry Kelly Sinn Fein
19. Changed utterly
20. These are the future leaders of Ulster if the St Andrews Agreement is endorsed
21. Critics mock Kelly's actions in Ardoyne

External links

• On This Day - 1973: IRA gang convicted of London bombings from BBC News
• Biography - Gerry Kelly Northern Ireland Assembly
• Gerry Kelly's "They work for you" page

• 1953 births
• Escapees from British detention
• Living people
• Members of the Northern Ireland Forum
• Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
• Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–
• Northern Ireland Government ministers
• People from Belfast
• Prisoners accorded Special Category Status
• Provisional Irish Republican Army members
• Sinn Féin politicians
• Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict
• Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales