Francie Molloy
| Francie Molloy MP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster | |
|
Assumed office 7 March 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Martin McGuinness |
| Majority | 4,681 (12.6%) |
| Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly | |
|
In office 28 June 2011 – 15 April 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Office Established |
| Succeeded by | Mitchel McLaughlin |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster | |
|
In office 25 June 1998 – 8 April 2013[1] | |
| Preceded by | Office Created |
| Succeeded by | Ian Milne |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
16 December 1950 [2] County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Sinn Féin |
| Website | Francie Molloy MLA |
Francie Molloy (Irish: Proinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh; born 16 December 1950) is a Sinn Féin politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster since 2013 and the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster since 1998.[3]
He first stood for Sinn Féin in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the 1982 Assembly Elections, finishing sixth in the five-seat constituency.[4] He was then elected to Dungannon council in 1985[5] representing the Torrent electoral area, centred on Coalisland. He retired from the council in 1989 but was re-elected in 1993 and has been a councillor since then.
Molloy stood unsuccessfully for Sinn Féin in the European election, 1994.[6]
Molloy was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996 representing Mid-Ulster and then for the same constituency to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, 2003 and 2007.
In 2005, Molloy was temporarily suspended from Sinn Féin after publicly disagreeing with the party policy on eliminating many district councils, including the Dungannon Council of which he was a member.[7]
In December 2012, Molloy was selected as the Sinn Féin candidate for the UK parliamentary constituency of Mid-Ulster, which had been held by his party colleague Martin McGuinness since the 1997 General election.[8] The by election took place on 7 March 2013.
In the run-up to the election, media attention focussed on past allegations about Molloy and how they related to the DUP/UUP-supported independent candidate Nigel Lutton - in 2007, DUP MP David Simpson had claimed during a debate in the Westminster parliament that Molloy had been a member of the IRA and was suspected by police of being involved in the fatal shooting of Lutton's father, Frederick 'Eric' Lutton, on 1 May 1979. The IRA had taken responsibility for it on the basis he was an RUC reservist. The investigation came to nothing, and Simpson claimed this was because Molloy was subsequently coerced into becoming a police informant, providing information that helped break up the IRA's East Tyrone brigade.[9] Molloy denied the allegations at the time, and challenged anyone to repeat them outside of Parliament so that he could take legal action (the original speech being subject to parliamentary privilege and thus not actionable).
The UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said he had been unaware of the speech and that it had played no part in Lutton's selection.[10] Lutton also denied the claims were behind his decision to stand.[11]
In the aftermath of the British vote to launch air strikes in Syria against Islamic State he caused controversy by calling David Cameron a terrorist and in stating 'Brits back to what they do best, Murder.' He and Sinn Féin refused to apologise.[12]
References
- ↑ Northern Ireland Assembly website
- ↑ Northern Ireland Assembly website
- ↑ Gareth Gordon (1 January 1970). "Sinn Féin's Francie Molloy wins Mid Ulster by-election". BBC News. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
- ↑ 1982 Assembly election count details
- ↑ 1985 Dungannon council results, ARK, accessed 3 January 2013
- ↑ 1994 European election result, ARK, accessed 3 January 2013
- ↑ Suspension for contradicting SF policy, BBC News
- ↑ Molloy to contest Mid-Ulster when McGuiness steps down BBC News
- ↑ Megan (22 November 2007). "'Informer' Molloy is linked to IRA killing". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
- ↑ "‘I didn’t know about Molloy allegations’". Belfast Newsletter. 20 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
- ↑ "This is not about me and Molloy says town undertaker". Portadown Times. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
- ↑
External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William King |
Mayor of Coleraine 1993–1995 |
Succeeded by Pauline Armitage |
| Preceded by Jane Morrice |
Deputy Speaker (with Roy Beggs and John Dallat) 2007–2011 |
Succeeded by Roy Beggs John Dallat |
| Preceded by Office Created |
Principal Deputy Speaker 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Mitchel McLaughlin |
| Northern Ireland Assembly | ||
| Preceded by Constituency Created |
MLA for Mid Ulster 1998–2013 |
Succeeded by Ian Milne |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Martin McGuinness |
Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster 2013–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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