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{{Short description|Irish socialist and republican political activist}}
] in ]'s ], depicting Bernadette .]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
'''Josephine Bernadette Devlin McAliskey''' (born ], ]), also known as '''Bernadette Devlin''' and '''Bernadette McAliskey''', is a ] ] political activist. She served as a ] at Westminster from ] to ], and is a critic of the ].
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, 2011 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Devlin in 2011
| imagesize =
| office = ]<br />for ]
| term_start = 17 April 1969
| term_end = 8 February 1974
| majority =
| predecessor = ]
| successor = ]
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|04|23|df=y}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/miss-bernadette-devlin/index.html|title=Miss Bernadette Devlin (Hansard)|website=]|access-date=6 May 2020|archive-date=18 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618075847/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/miss-bernadette-devlin/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| birth_place = ], ], ]
| party = ] (1970–1974),<br />(1976–1977),<br />(1978–present)
| otherparty = ] (1969–1970),<br />] (1974–1976),<br />] (1977–1978)
| spouse = Michael McAliskey
| birth_name = Josephine Bernadette Devlin
| children = ]<br />Deirdre McAliskey
| nationality = ]
| alma_mater = ]
}}
'''Josephine Bernadette McAliskey''' (née '''Devlin'''; born 23 April 1947), usually known as '''Bernadette Devlin''' or '''Bernadette McAliskey''', is an Irish civil rights leader and former politician.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Miss Bernadette Devlin (Hansard)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/miss-bernadette-devlin/index.html|access-date=2021-05-11|website=]|archive-date=18 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618075847/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/miss-bernadette-devlin/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> She served as ] (MP) for ] in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1974. McAliskey came to national and international prominence at the age of 21 when she became the youngest person ever (at that time) to become a member of the British Parliament. McAliskey broke the traditional ] policy of ] and took her seat in Westminster. McAliskey's ascension came at the outbreak of ], an ethno-nationalist conflict which would come to dominate Northern Ireland for the next 30 years. For the majority of that time, McAliskey would be politically active, advocating for a 32-county socialist Irish republic to replace the two states on the island of Ireland. Originally linked to the ] group, McAliskey was later a founder of the ]. However, McAliskey left the party after a year when members voted that its paramilitary wing, the ], did not have to obey the political wing.


McAliskey continued to be politically active, such as during the ]. It was during this period when she and her husband survived an assassination attempt by undercover members of the ], an ] paramilitary.
Devlin was studying ] at ] in ] when she took a prominent role in a student-led ] political party called ]. She opposed ] in the Northern Ireland general election of ]. When the MP for ] died, she fought the ] on the "]" ticket and was elected to the Westminster Parliament at the age of 21. She stood on the slogan "I will take my seat and fight for your rights" - signalling her rejection of the traditional republican tactic of ].


Since 1997 McAliskey has worked as the head of the ], an ] based in ] which focuses on community development.
She is the youngest woman ever to be elected to the British parliament. Breaking with tradition she made her highly-praised ] within an hour of taking her seat. Her 1969 book "The Price of My Soul" did much to publicise the claims of ]s about discrimination in Northern Ireland.
==Early life==
Devlin was born in ], ], to a ] family, where she was the third of six children born to John James and Elizabeth Bernadette Devlin. Her father raised her to hold ] ideals before he died when Bernadette was nine years old. Subsequently, the family had to depend on welfare to survive, an experience which affected Bernadette deeply. Bernadette's mother died when Bernadette was nineteen years old, leaving her to partially raise her siblings while also attending university.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/bernadette-devlin-biography-3530416 |title=Bernadette Devlin Profile |last=Johnson Lewis |first=Jone |date=8 March 2019 |website=thoughtco.com |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118055621/https://www.thoughtco.com/bernadette-devlin-biography-3530416 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://biography.yourdictionary.com/bernadette-devlin |title=Bernadette Devlin Facts |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=yourdictionary.com |access-date=19 November 2019 |archive-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118055645/https://biography.yourdictionary.com/bernadette-devlin |url-status=live }}</ref>


She attended ] in ].<ref>CAIN: Biographies of Prominent People – McAliskey</ref> She was studying ] at ] in 1968 when she took a prominent role in a student-led ] organisation, ].<ref name="Independent">{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211164929/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/bernadette-mcaliskey-return-of-the-roaring-girl-951825.html|archive-date=11 December 2008|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-return-of-the-roaring-girl-951825.html|title=Bernadette McAliskey: Return of the Roaring Girl|last=Moreton|first=Cole|date=5 October 2008|work=Independent on Sunday|access-date=5 October 2008|url-status=dead|location=London}}</ref> Following complaints from Unionist politicians, Devlin's scholarship was revoked and she was refused to be allowed to sit her final exams.<ref name="Independent"/><ref name="QUB Expulsion BBC">{{cite news |last=Meredith |first=Robbie |date= |title=Bernadette McAliskey: Too late for QUB to apologise for expulsion |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-62576229 |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref> Queen's University has never offered a formal apology to Devlin, but Devlin has stated she would not accept one even if it was offered.<ref name="QUB Expulsion BBC"/>
Her radical left-wing politics ended in conviction of incitement to riot in December ] because she had actively engaged, on the side of the residents, in the ']' which followed that year's ] march and is widely maked as the beginning of Northern Ireland's 30 year "]". She served a short jail term. After being re-elected in the ] Devlin declared that she would sit in Parliament as an Independent Socialist.


==Political activism==
Devlin punched ], the ] in the ] government, when he made a statement to Parliament on ] supporting the ] line that it had fired only in self-defence. Devlin had witnessed the event and was infuriated that, although parliamentary convention decreed that any MP witnessing an incident under discussion would be granted an opportunity to speak about it in parliament, she had been consistently denied the chance to speak.
===Political beginnings===
She stood unsuccessfully against ] in the ]. When ], the MP for ], died, she fought the ] on the "]" ], defeating the ] candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the ]. Aged 21, she was the ], and remained the youngest woman ever elected to Westminster until the ] when 20-year-old ] eclipsed Devlin's achievement.<ref name="Independent"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293 |title=Bernadette McAliskey: "I am astounded I survived. I made mad decisions." |work=Irish Times |first=Kitty |last=Holland |date=22 September 2016 |access-date=15 April 2019 |archive-date=11 February 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200211100308/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293 |url-status=live }}</ref>


Devlin stood on the slogan "I will take my seat and fight for your rights" – signalling her rejection of the traditional ] principle of ]. On 22 April 1969, the day before her 22nd birthday, she swore the ]<ref>''Journal of the House of Commons'', Session 1968–69, p. 217</ref> and made her ] within an hour.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314022054/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1969/apr/22/northern-ireland#S5CV0782P0_19690422_HOC_271 |date=14 March 2011 }}, api.parliament.uk; accessed 8 August 2015.</ref>
She married Michael McAliskey, by whom she had become pregnant in ], on ], ]; her pregnancy out of wedlock had lost her some support. In the ] she was opposed by other Nationalist candidates and lost her seat.
===Battle of the Bogside===


After engaging, on the side of the residents, in the ] in August, she was convicted of incitement to riot in December 1969, for which she served six months imprisonment.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 2019 |title=House of Commons Briefing Paper |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04594/SN04594.pdf |access-date=11 July 2024 |website=parliament.uk |publisher=House of Commons Library |no-pp=y}}</ref><ref name="onthisday">{{cite web |title=ON THIS DAY - Dates - 26 - 1970 Violence flares as Devlin is arrested |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onThisDay/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_2519000/2519711.stm |access-date=1 April 2021 |date=1 February 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030201100926/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onThisDay/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_2519000/2519711.stm |archive-date=1 February 2003 }}</ref> After being re-elected at the ], Devlin declared that she would sit in Parliament as an independent ].<ref>], "British Parliamentary Election Results, 1950–1973", Parliamentary Research Services, Chichester, 2nd ed. 1983, p. 687.</ref>
McAliskey helped to form the ] in ], this was a ] breakaway from ] and parallelled the ]'s split from the ]. With some others she left it after a short time when it became clear that it regarded political activity as subordinate to the INLA. She attacked the ] as dishonest in ]. She stood as an independent candidate in support of the ] in the ] prison in the ] elections to the ] in Northern Ireland, and won a respectable 5.9% of the vote. She was a leading spokesperson for the Smash H-Block Campaign, which supported the ] in 1980 and 1981, though she remained publicly critical of ] and other ] leaders. On ], ] she and her husband were shot and seriously wounded by ] paramilitaries who broke into her home.


===U.S. tour and meetings with Black Panthers===
In ] she failed in her attempt to be elected to ], the parliament of the ].
] film about ].]]
Almost immediately after the Battle of the Bogside, Devlin undertook a tour of the ] in August 1969, a trip which generated a significant amount of media attention. She met with members of the ] in ] and gave them her support. She made appearances on '']'' and '']''. At a number of speaking events, she made parallels between the struggle in the U.S. by African-Americans seeking civil rights and Catholics in Northern Ireland, sometimes to the embarrassment of her audience. During an event in ], she had to goad an African-American singer to sing "]" to the Irish-American audience, many of whom refused to stand for the song. In ], she refused to take the stage until African-Americans, who were barred from the event, were allowed in. In New York, Mayor John Lindsay arranged a ceremony to present Devlin with a ] of New York. Devlin, frustrated with conservative elements of the ], left the tour to return to Northern Ireland and, believing the freedom of New York should go to the American poor, sent ] to present the key on her behalf to a representative from the ] chapter of the Black Panther Party.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/fidel-castro-in-a-miniskirt-bernadette-devlins-first-us-tour/ |title='Fidel Castro in a miniskirt': Bernadette Devlin's first US tour |last=Keenan-Thomson |first=Tara |date=August 2009 |website=historyireland.com |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118055653/https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/fidel-castro-in-a-miniskirt-bernadette-devlins-first-us-tour/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dooley |first=Brian |date=1998 |title=Black and Green: The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland & Black America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI5TDscIjLcC&pg=PA66|publisher=Pluto Press|isbn=978-0-7453-1295-8|page=66 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=3 March 1970 |title=Irish Give Key to City To Panthers as Symbol |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/03/archives/irish-give-key-to-city-to-panthers-as-symbol.html |work=] |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118055644/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/03/archives/irish-give-key-to-city-to-panthers-as-symbol.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


In September 1969, while still on tour, the Unionist ] dubbed Devlin "nothing less than ] in a miniskirt". Devlin responded by stating that Mills was a coward for waiting until she was abroad to make such a remark, but also that she was "as left as ] and the ]". The two had a face-to-face debate in New York that month.<ref name="Castro in a miniskirt">{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=On This Day: Bernadette Devlin dubbed 'Castro in a mini-skirt' |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/thisdayinhistory/2019/09/03/news/on-this-day-bernadette-devin-dubbed-castro-in-a-mini-skirt--1702072/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903234940/https://www.irishnews.com/news/thisdayinhistory/2019/09/03/news/on-this-day-bernadette-devin-dubbed-castro-in-a-mini-skirt--1702072/ |work= |location= |access-date=18 August 2024 |archive-date=3 September 2019}} </ref><ref name="Left as Connolly">{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Bernadette Devlin Returns From America |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0809/1067855-bernadette-devlin-back-from-usa/ |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
Her daughter Róisín was arrested (while five months pregnant) in ] on an extradition warrant issued by ] accusing her of involvement in an ] bombing. After a long campaign in which her mother took a leading role, the Home Secretary ] vetoed the extradition on health grounds.


===Bloody Sunday===
Her younger daughter Deirdre is also politically active, most recently as a student leader at ] in ].
Having witnessed the ] massacre in ] in 1972, Devlin was infuriated that she was later consistently denied the floor in the House of Commons by the Speaker ], despite the fact that parliamentary convention decreed that any Member of Parliament witnessing an incident under discussion would be granted an opportunity to speak about it therein.<ref>{{cite news|title=Daughters of Ireland|author=Ros Wynne-Jones|url=http://findArticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970309/ai_n14092582/pg_2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524113024/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970309/ai_n14092582/pg_2|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 May 2008|newspaper=]|date=9 March 1997|access-date=2 June 2007}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324044912/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1972/jan/31/northern-ireland |date=24 March 2015 }}, api.parliament.uk; accessed 22 March 2015.</ref>
McAliskey remains an active commentator and activist on the margins of Northern Irish politics, where she has expressed strong opposition to the Belfast Agreement and to ]'s entry into government in Northern Ireland stating that IRA volunteers had not died to create "a common teaching qualification" in ].


The day following Bloody Sunday, Devlin slapped ] ] ] across the face when he falsely asserted in the House of Commons that the ] had fired in self-defence on Bloody Sunday.<ref name="Independent"/> Asked by an all-male press corps if she intended to apologise to Maudling, Devlin said: "I'm just sorry I didn't get him by the throat".<ref>Jo Coburn, . BBC Sounds, 7 September 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2023</ref>
In 2003, she was barred from entering the ] and deported on the grounds that the ] had declared that she "poses a serious threat to the security of the ]", though McAliskey protested that she had no ] involvement and had frequently traveled to the United States in the past.


Thirteen years later, former British Prime Minister ] recalled the event: "I remember very well when an hon. Lady rushed from the Opposition Benches and hit Mr. Maudling. I remember that vividly because I thought that she was going to hit me. She could not stretch as far as that, so she had to make do with him."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1985/nov/20/televising-of-the-house#S6CV0087P0_19851120_HOC_229|date=20 November 1985|title=Televising of the House (Hansard, 20 November 1985)|website=]}}</ref>
She has sometimes spoken at public meetings organised by '']'', a journal supported by dissident republicans, socialists, and ex-prisoners.

Devlin appeared on '']'' in 1972 to discuss the situation in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/23/dear-boris-johnson-watch-these-six-films-before-you-rip-up-the-irish-backstop-and-trigger-violence |title=Dear Boris Johnson, watch these six films before you rip up the Irish backstop and trigger violence|last=Cousins |first=Mark |date=2019 |work=] |access-date=17 October 2021 |quote=We showed this 58-minute interview...William Buckley was American aristocracy; Devlin was born in County Tyrone. Their conversation is an espresso hit.}}</ref>

===Irish Republican Socialist Party===
Devlin helped to form the ] (IRSP) with ] in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/1130/750277-mass-resignations-in-the-irsp/ |title=Irish Republican Socialist Party Loses Members 1975 |publisher=rte.ie |access-date=25 December 2016 |archive-date=25 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225214648/http://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/1130/750277-mass-resignations-in-the-irsp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was a revolutionary socialist breakaway from ] and, later that same day, Costello also created the ] (INLA) as a split from the ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Holland, Jack|author2=McDonald, Henry|title=''INLA Deadly Divisions''|publisher=Poolbeg|year=1996|page=49|isbn=1-85371-263-9}}</ref> Devlin did not join the INLA and while she served on the party's national executive in 1975, she resigned when a proposal that the INLA become subordinate to the party executive was defeated. In 1977, she joined the ], but it disbanded the following year.<ref>Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley. ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisations'', Pinter Publishers (March 2000); {{ISBN|1-85567-264-2}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2024}}

===Support for prisoners===
McAliskey stood as an ] in support of the prisoners on the ] and ] at ] prison in the ] to the ] in the ], and won 5.9% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|title=''Northern Ireland and the European Parliament''|author=Nicholas Whyte|url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fe04.htm|publisher=ARK|date=18 April 2004|access-date=11 March 2007|archive-date=4 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404234444/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fe04.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> She was a leading spokesperson for the Smash H-Block Campaign, which supported the ].

In September 1981 McAliskey toured continental Europe to try and raise support for the strikers. She was deported from Spain immediately upon arrival at Barcelona airport. Instead, McAliskey flew to Paris and called upon French Trade Unions to place an embargo on handling British goods until the hunger strikes ended.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=11 September 1981 |title=Bernadette Devlin in France To Gain Support for I.R.A Fast |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/11/world/bernadette-devlin-in-france-to-gain-support-for-ira-fast.html |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

===Attempted assassination===
On 16 January 1981, Devlin and her husband were attacked by members of the ], a cover name of the ] (UDA), who broke into their home near ], ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206152438/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch81.htm#Jan |date=6 December 2010 }}, CAIN</ref><ref>Peter Taylor, ''Loyalists'', p. 168</ref> The gunmen shot Devlin nine times in front of her children.<ref>CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict: January 1981</ref>

British soldiers were watching the McAliskey home at the time, but they failed to prevent the assassination attempt. Allegations were subsequently made that elements of the security forces had colluded with the UDA in planning the botched assassination.<ref name=Independent/><ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Taylor (Journalist)|title=''Loyalists''|publisher=]|year=1999|page=168|isbn=0-7475-4519-7}}</ref> An army patrol from ] entered the house after waiting outside for half an hour. Devlin has claimed that the patrol "were there to make sure that the gunmen got into my house and that they were caught on the way out." Soldiers from the ] (ASH) then arrived and transported her by helicopter to a nearby hospital.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103853/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079124,00.html |date=2 April 2015 }}, people.com; accessed 23 March 2015.</ref>

The paramilitaries had torn out the telephone and, while the wounded couple were being given first aid by the newly arrived troops, an ASH soldier ran to a neighbour's house, commandeered a car, and drove to the home of a councillor to telephone for help. The couple were taken by helicopter to hospital in nearby ] for emergency treatment and then to the ], Military Wing, in Belfast, under ].<ref name="guardian">, ''The Guardian'', 17 January 1981.</ref><ref>], ''Loyalists'', London: Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 168.</ref>

The attackers—], Tom Graham (38), both from ], and Andrew Watson (25) from Seymour Hill, Dunmurry—were captured by the army patrol and subsequently jailed.<ref name="murray263">Murray, Raymond (1990). ''The SAS in Ireland''. Mercier Press. p.263</ref> All three were members of the South Belfast UDA. Smallwoods was the driver of the getaway car.<ref name="lister221">Lister, David; Jordan, Hugh (2004). ''Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C' Company''. Edinburgh: Mainstream. p.221</ref>

===Dáil Éireann elections===
]
] on '']'' in 1988: '']'' ]]
She twice failed, in ] and ], in attempts to be elected to the ] constituency of the Irish parliament, ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Elections Ireland: "Bernadette McAliskey"|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3444|publisher=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=2 June 2007|archive-date=23 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423124618/http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3444|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Funeral of Dominic McGlinchey===
In 1994, McAliskey attended the funeral of former ] Chief of Staff ]. The INLA had been the armed wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, which McAliskey had helped found. McAliskey kissed the coffin, which was carried by her, Sean McGlinchey, Dominic junior and Father O'Daly, who had given McGlinchey the last rites on Hardman's Gardens. During the funeral oration, she condemned the recent press coverage which had accused McGlinchey of drug dealing and criminality and said of the journalists responsible that they were "curs and dogs. May every one of them rot in hell. They have taken away Dominic McGlinchy's character and they will stand judgement for it. He was the finest Republican of them all. He never dishonoured the cause he believed in. His war was with the armed soldiers and the police of this state".<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Tim Pat |date=2000 |title=The I.R.A. |publisher=HarperCollins |page=541 }}</ref>

Following this speech, ''The Times'' reported that some of the mourners turned on the observing press corps and shouted abuse.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Watt |first=N |date=14 February 1994 |title=Family Buries Killer who Knew his Time had Come |work=The Times}}</ref> A couple of months after the funeral, McAliskey explained her thinking to ''The Guardian''. Their reporter, David Sharrock, asked if her tirade had been intended to counteract the negative stories about McGlinchey that had recently appeared in the press. McAliskey said

{{Cquote|quote="It's very difficult to conduct a conversation about a person who bore no resemblance in the media to the person I knew for 10 years. His thinking was just fundamentally democratic and to acknowledge that Dominic McGlinchey had an intellect was to acknowledge the reality of this conflict here. Republicanism is not simply anti-partitionist and confined to Ireland. It is a tradition of secular egalitarian democracy. So yes. Dominic was the finest republican of his generation. The rest of it I might take back...I don't even believe in hell."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sharrock |first=D |date=9 April 1994 |title=Seer of Truths They'd Rather Not Hear |work=The Guardian}}</ref>}}

===South Tyrone Empowerment Programme===
McAliskey is chief executive of the ] (STEP) and was involved in its founding in 1997.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/brexit-campaign-in-north-played-on-racism-and-emotions-1.2706039|title=Brexit campaign in North 'played on racism and emotions'|last=Moriarty|first=Gerry|date=1 July 2016|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=23 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923103248/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/brexit-campaign-in-north-played-on-racism-and-emotions-1.2706039|url-status=live}}</ref> STEP provides a range of services and advocacy in areas including ], training, support and advice for migrants, policy work, and community enterprise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stepni.org/about-us.asp|title=STEP – South Tyrone Empowerment Programme|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=27 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027172700/http://www.stepni.org/about-us.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Denied entry into the US===
In 2003 she was barred from entering the United States and deported on the grounds that the ] had declared her to pose "a serious threat to the security of the United States" – apparently referring to her conviction for incitement to riot in 1969 – although she protested that she had no terrorist involvement and had frequently been permitted to travel to the United States in the past.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.casac.ca/node/136|title=Finding Trouble in the US|author=Jimmy Breslin|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=25 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325092256/http://www.casac.ca/node/136|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Later political activity===
On 12 May 2007, McAliskey was a guest speaker at the socialist republican political party ]'s first Annual ] commemoration in ], Dublin.<ref>{{cite web|title=éirígí Árd Fheis 2007 |url=http://www.eirigi.org/Ard_Fheis_07/bernadette_mcaliskey_07_address.html |publisher=] |access-date=25 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070728180929/http://www.eirigi.org/Ard_Fheis_07/bernadette_mcaliskey_07_address.html |archive-date=28 July 2007 }}</ref> She works with ] to improve their treatment in Northern Ireland.<ref name="Independent"/>

During the ], McAliskey was an ] for ]'s candidate in Foyle, ]. McCann was successfully elected.<ref name="IT September 2016">{{cite news |last=Holland |first=Kitty |date=22 September 2016 |title=Bernadette McAliskey: ‘I am astounded I survived. I made mad decisions’ |url= https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293 |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

During the campaigning for the ], McAliskey endorsed ] in the Dublin constituency.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=9 May 2024 |title=Working class people ‘carrying burden of guilt for rise in right-wing politics’ |url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/national-news/1497290/working-class-people-carrying-burden-of-guilt-for-rise-in-right-wing-politics.html |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

==Political views==
Throughout her life, McAliskey has been associated with ] and various ] and ] groups. In September 1969 the Unionist ] dubbed Devlin "nothing less than ] in a miniskirt". Devlin responded that ideologically she was "as left as ] and the ]".<ref name="Castro in a miniskirt">{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=On This Day: Bernadette Devlin dubbed 'Castro in a mini-skirt' |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/thisdayinhistory/2019/09/03/news/on-this-day-bernadette-devin-dubbed-castro-in-a-mini-skirt--1702072/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903234940/https://www.irishnews.com/news/thisdayinhistory/2019/09/03/news/on-this-day-bernadette-devin-dubbed-castro-in-a-mini-skirt--1702072/ |work= |location= |access-date=18 August 2024 |archive-date=3 September 2019}} </ref><ref name="Left as Connolly">{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Bernadette Devlin Returns From America |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0809/1067855-bernadette-devlin-back-from-usa/ |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref> In a May 1969 interview, McAliskey stated she had "never read ]", but stated that "I have read Connolly and if James Connolly was a ] then so am I’. She also stated her admiration for ].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Reed |first=Sean |date=1 May 1969 |title=Bernadette Devlin, MP Ireland: ‘I stand for a socialist republic’ |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/sw-gb/1969/n0120/devlin.htm |magazine=Socialist Worker |location= |publisher= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

===Border Poll===
In March 2017 McAliskey stated that she would not vote Yes in a Border Poll held on the prospect of a United Ireland. She also accused ] of seeking United Ireland only if it could control that state.<ref name="BT March 2017"/> McAliskey stated: "Sinn Fein has no intention of moving forward to a united Ireland that it doesn't control." Additionally, she stated "Do I think the people who are in the current mainstream of political ideology - whether that's from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail right through Sinn Fein, on into the SDLP and on over to the Unionists and the DUP - should be let out to run a country? No".<ref name="BT March 2017"/> McAliskey expanded: "Would I like to dismantle the Irish Republic? Yes. Would I like to dismantle the northern state? Yes. I would like to start again and have a constitutional conference, a series of clear discussions and debates and a democratic process for building a new independent republic in which everybody could feel they belonged.<ref name="BT March 2017">{{cite news |last=Little |first=Ivan |date=15 March 2017 |title=Bernadette McAliskey: 'Sinn Fein's talk of border poll is game-play, it doesn't want united Ireland it can't control' |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/bernadette-mcaliskey-sinn-feins-talk-of-border-poll-is-game-play-it-doesnt-want-united-ireland-it-cant-control/35531983.html |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2018}} </ref>

In November 2018, during a live public interview in Belfast during an episode of the ] podcast, McAliskey stated she would not vote for a ] unless that combined state was explicitly socialist.<ref>{{cite podcast |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/2YilXmkm1ekkLtqA7BmMyG |title=Bernadette Devlin McAliskey |website= |publisher= |host=Blindboy Boatclub |date=November 2018 |time= |access-date=18 August 2024}}</ref> In August 2019 McAliskey made a similar statement, once again affirming she would not vote for a United Ireland in a Border Poll, asking rhetorically, "Who would want to join the ]?". This prompted the Irish political magazine '']'' to accuse McAliskey of having abandoned Irish Republicanism.<ref name="The Phoenix August 2019">{{cite news |last= |first= |date=22 August 2019 |title=Bernadette McAliskey's U-turn |url=https://www.thephoenix.ie/article/bernadette-mcaliskeys-u-turn/ |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref> ''The Phoenix'' contrasted her statements with statements McAliskey made in 1992, in which she proclaimed she would "burn every blade of grass" in Ireland to retain her "birthright".<ref name="The Phoenix August 2019"/>

In September 2023 McAliskey stated: "I have no more interest than the average Unionist in being submerged into the Free State. Absolutely none. I can think of no worse fate that might befall a population than to be sucked into the existing system of the Republic of Ireland. I think we need a new Ireland, and I think it starts with a new Constitution."<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=Victoria |date=10 September 2023 |title=Bernadette McAliskey on the past, politics, and the future |url=https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/23773926.bernadette-mcaliskey-past-politics-future/ |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

===Northern Ireland===
Speaking in September 2016, McAliskey stated that if the Irish and British governments had "been serious" about reforming Northern Ireland following the ], they would have "insisted on a 20-year strategy for desegregating housing, desegregating education, ending our private and cultural segregation".<ref name="IT September 2016"/>

In February 2018 ] of Sinn Féin claimed the Northern Ireland civil rights movement was influenced by decisions of the IRA and the Sinn Féin leadership. Kearney told the BBC "Republicans were involved. The IRA and the Sinn Féin leaderships encouraged their activists to organise and to campaign under the umbrella of the civil rights movement, alongside other democrats and other political activists - human rights activists, communists and trade unionists. So, the role of republicanism was central to the emergence of the civil rights movement along with many others." In response, McAliskey stated that Kearney's views were "delusional silliness" .<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Stephen |date=8 February 2018 |title=Sinn Féin 'delusional' over origin of civil rights movement |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-42996002 |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

===Republicanism===
McAliskey stated in September 2016 that "If republicanism is about being true to the ideals of ] and ], then Sinn Féin are bad Republicans", and "If you take as the keystone of republicanism that authority exercised over a human being, without that human being’s acquiescence and knowledge, is a usurpation of that person’s rights, then by what definition are Sinn Féin republicans?".<ref name="IT September 2016"/>

===Abortion===
McAliskey has described herself as a "hardliner" on abortion, stating "I don’t need, and you are not entitled to, an explanation about what I do with me, to make you feel better. You can’t say some abortions are okay and some are not. You are either pro-choice or you are not. I am a hardliner and most people don’t dare enunciate that view yet. I have a clear, old-fashioned bottom line: abortion on demand is a valid demand".<ref name="IT September 2016"/>

McAliskey believes in abortion at any point of the pregnancy: "So if it's my body and it's my right, it's my right from the start to the end. So don't tell me to settle for the first 12 weeks, the first 24 weeks, a position where a foetus may not have any real chance of survival. Don't tell me these things will be acceptable, but making a choice for myself in any circumstance is my choice. I've always believed in the fundamental right of any woman to secure a safe, a free termination of pregnancy, an abortion, when she asks for it – and that there's a full stop and an exclamation mark after that."<ref>{{cite news |last=Kula |first=Adam |date=14 March 2023 |title=Transgenderism: Republican socialist activist Bernadette McAliskey uses International Women's Day speech to say there is no firm definition of 'woman' |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/transgenderism-republican-socialist-activist-bernadette-mcaliskey-uses-international-womens-day-speech-to-say-there-is-no-firm-definition-of-woman-4063095 |work=] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>

==Personal life==
In 1971, she gave birth to a daughter, ],<ref name="Independent"/> which cost her some political support because she was unmarried.<ref name="bbc1">{{cite news|title=1969: "Devlin is youngest-ever woman MP"|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2524000/2524881.stm|publisher=BBC|access-date=2 June 2007|date=17 April 1969|archive-date=23 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623151947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2524000/2524881.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> She later married Róisín's father Michael McAliskey on her 26th birthday on 23 April 1973.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293|title=Bernadette McAliskey: 'I am astounded I survived. I made mad decisions'|last=Holland|first=Kitty|date=22 September 2016|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=11 February 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200211100308/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293|url-status=live}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
In 1969, director and producer ] made the documentary film ''Bernadette Devlin'' for ], which was shown on the British television channel ] and on the American television channel ]'s '']'' programme, and included footage of Devlin during the Battle of the Bogside. She was also interviewed at length by ] in '']'' (1972). Another documentary, ''Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey'', directed by Irish programme-maker Leila Doolan, was released in 2011.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823132328/http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/programme.php?fest=4&ct=new-irish-cinema&cid=2&t=bernadette-notes-on-a-political-journey&id=48 |date=23 August 2014 }}, galwayfilmfleadh.com; accessed 8 August 2015.</ref> At the ] a ] of Devlin was announced,<ref name="Independent"/> but she stated that "the whole concept is abhorrent to me" and the film was not made.

Devlin, and her assault after the Bloody Sunday massacre on the British Home Secretary, ], were the subject of the title song of the 1990 music album, '']'' by ] pop/punk band ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slap! |url=https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=en&id=40798}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/slap%21-mw0000311606
| title = Slap!
| last = McDonald
| first = Steven
| publisher = AllMusic
| access-date = 2023-05-29}}</ref>

In the 2002 film, '']'', Devlin is played by actress Mary Moulds.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}


==External links== ==External links==
*. ]. 2018
* '''', 1969 (Foreword and Chapter Twelve)
*, Field Day, 30 September 2016.
* '''' - 17 Jan 1981 (by David Beresford in Belfast, The Guardian)
* McAliskey, Bernadette Devlin. , cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 8 August 2015.
* '''' - 22 Feb 2003, (by Laura Flanders)
* THE BLANKET: '''' - 23 Feb 2003, (by Anthony McIntyre) * McIntyre, Anthony. , lark.phoblacht.net, 23 February 2003; accessed 8 August 2015.
* , Independent.co.uk, 29 July 2007.
* Ireland's OWN: Women Freedom Fighters: '''', (by DM Gould, Ireland's OWN)

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Irish socialist and republican political activist

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
Devlin in 2011
Member of Parliament
for Mid Ulster
In office
17 April 1969 – 8 February 1974
Preceded byGeorge Forrest
Succeeded byJohn Dunlop
Personal details
BornJosephine Bernadette Devlin
(1947-04-23) 23 April 1947 (age 77)
Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partyIndependent Republican (1970–1974),
(1976–1977),
(1978–present)
Other political
affiliations
Unity (1969–1970),
Irish Republican Socialist Party (1974–1976),
Independent Socialist Party (1977–1978)
SpouseMichael McAliskey
ChildrenRóisín McAliskey
Deirdre McAliskey
Alma materQueen's University Belfast

Josephine Bernadette McAliskey (née Devlin; born 23 April 1947), usually known as Bernadette Devlin or Bernadette McAliskey, is an Irish civil rights leader and former politician. She served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1974. McAliskey came to national and international prominence at the age of 21 when she became the youngest person ever (at that time) to become a member of the British Parliament. McAliskey broke the traditional Irish republican policy of abstentionism and took her seat in Westminster. McAliskey's ascension came at the outbreak of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict which would come to dominate Northern Ireland for the next 30 years. For the majority of that time, McAliskey would be politically active, advocating for a 32-county socialist Irish republic to replace the two states on the island of Ireland. Originally linked to the People's Democracy group, McAliskey was later a founder of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. However, McAliskey left the party after a year when members voted that its paramilitary wing, the Irish National Liberation Army, did not have to obey the political wing.

McAliskey continued to be politically active, such as during the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was during this period when she and her husband survived an assassination attempt by undercover members of the Ulster Defence Association, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary.

Since 1997 McAliskey has worked as the head of the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme, an NGO based in Dungannon which focuses on community development.

Early life

Devlin was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, to a Catholic family, where she was the third of six children born to John James and Elizabeth Bernadette Devlin. Her father raised her to hold Irish Republican ideals before he died when Bernadette was nine years old. Subsequently, the family had to depend on welfare to survive, an experience which affected Bernadette deeply. Bernadette's mother died when Bernadette was nineteen years old, leaving her to partially raise her siblings while also attending university.

She attended St Patrick's Girls Academy in Dungannon. She was studying psychology at Queen's University Belfast in 1968 when she took a prominent role in a student-led civil rights organisation, People's Democracy. Following complaints from Unionist politicians, Devlin's scholarship was revoked and she was refused to be allowed to sit her final exams. Queen's University has never offered a formal apology to Devlin, but Devlin has stated she would not accept one even if it was offered.

Political activism

Political beginnings

She stood unsuccessfully against James Chichester-Clark in the 1969 Northern Ireland general election. When George Forrest, the MP for Mid Ulster, died, she fought the subsequent by-election on the "Unity" ticket, defeating the Ulster Unionist Party candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the Westminster Parliament. Aged 21, she was the youngest MP at the time, and remained the youngest woman ever elected to Westminster until the May 2015 general election when 20-year-old Mhairi Black eclipsed Devlin's achievement.

Devlin stood on the slogan "I will take my seat and fight for your rights" – signalling her rejection of the traditional Irish republican principle of abstentionism. On 22 April 1969, the day before her 22nd birthday, she swore the Oath of Allegiance and made her maiden speech within an hour.

Battle of the Bogside

After engaging, on the side of the residents, in the Battle of the Bogside in August, she was convicted of incitement to riot in December 1969, for which she served six months imprisonment. After being re-elected at the 1970 general election, Devlin declared that she would sit in Parliament as an independent socialist.

U.S. tour and meetings with Black Panthers

Devlin in a 1971 newsreel film about the Troubles.

Almost immediately after the Battle of the Bogside, Devlin undertook a tour of the United States in August 1969, a trip which generated a significant amount of media attention. She met with members of the Black Panther Party in Watts, Los Angeles and gave them her support. She made appearances on Meet the Press and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At a number of speaking events, she made parallels between the struggle in the U.S. by African-Americans seeking civil rights and Catholics in Northern Ireland, sometimes to the embarrassment of her audience. During an event in Philadelphia, she had to goad an African-American singer to sing "We Shall Overcome" to the Irish-American audience, many of whom refused to stand for the song. In Detroit, she refused to take the stage until African-Americans, who were barred from the event, were allowed in. In New York, Mayor John Lindsay arranged a ceremony to present Devlin with a key to the city of New York. Devlin, frustrated with conservative elements of the Irish-American community, left the tour to return to Northern Ireland and, believing the freedom of New York should go to the American poor, sent Eamonn McCann to present the key on her behalf to a representative from the Harlem chapter of the Black Panther Party.

In September 1969, while still on tour, the Unionist Stratton Mills dubbed Devlin "nothing less than Fidel Castro in a miniskirt". Devlin responded by stating that Mills was a coward for waiting until she was abroad to make such a remark, but also that she was "as left as James Connolly and the starry plough". The two had a face-to-face debate in New York that month.

Bloody Sunday

Having witnessed the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in 1972, Devlin was infuriated that she was later consistently denied the floor in the House of Commons by the Speaker Selwyn Lloyd, despite the fact that parliamentary convention decreed that any Member of Parliament witnessing an incident under discussion would be granted an opportunity to speak about it therein.

The day following Bloody Sunday, Devlin slapped Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling across the face when he falsely asserted in the House of Commons that the Parachute Regiment had fired in self-defence on Bloody Sunday. Asked by an all-male press corps if she intended to apologise to Maudling, Devlin said: "I'm just sorry I didn't get him by the throat".

Thirteen years later, former British Prime Minister Edward Heath recalled the event: "I remember very well when an hon. Lady rushed from the Opposition Benches and hit Mr. Maudling. I remember that vividly because I thought that she was going to hit me. She could not stretch as far as that, so she had to make do with him."

Devlin appeared on Firing Line in 1972 to discuss the situation in Northern Ireland.

Irish Republican Socialist Party

Devlin helped to form the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) with Seamus Costello in 1974. This was a revolutionary socialist breakaway from Official Sinn Féin and, later that same day, Costello also created the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) as a split from the Official Irish Republican Army. Devlin did not join the INLA and while she served on the party's national executive in 1975, she resigned when a proposal that the INLA become subordinate to the party executive was defeated. In 1977, she joined the Independent Socialist Party, but it disbanded the following year.

Support for prisoners

McAliskey stood as an independent candidate in support of the prisoners on the blanket protest and dirty protest at Long Kesh prison in the 1979 elections to the European Parliament in the Northern Ireland constituency, and won 5.9% of the vote. She was a leading spokesperson for the Smash H-Block Campaign, which supported the hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981.

In September 1981 McAliskey toured continental Europe to try and raise support for the strikers. She was deported from Spain immediately upon arrival at Barcelona airport. Instead, McAliskey flew to Paris and called upon French Trade Unions to place an embargo on handling British goods until the hunger strikes ended.

Attempted assassination

On 16 January 1981, Devlin and her husband were attacked by members of the Ulster Freedom Fighters, a cover name of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), who broke into their home near Coalisland, County Tyrone. The gunmen shot Devlin nine times in front of her children.

British soldiers were watching the McAliskey home at the time, but they failed to prevent the assassination attempt. Allegations were subsequently made that elements of the security forces had colluded with the UDA in planning the botched assassination. An army patrol from 3 Para entered the house after waiting outside for half an hour. Devlin has claimed that the patrol "were there to make sure that the gunmen got into my house and that they were caught on the way out." Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (ASH) then arrived and transported her by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

The paramilitaries had torn out the telephone and, while the wounded couple were being given first aid by the newly arrived troops, an ASH soldier ran to a neighbour's house, commandeered a car, and drove to the home of a councillor to telephone for help. The couple were taken by helicopter to hospital in nearby Dungannon for emergency treatment and then to the Musgrave Park Hospital, Military Wing, in Belfast, under intensive care.

The attackers—Ray Smallwoods, Tom Graham (38), both from Lisburn, and Andrew Watson (25) from Seymour Hill, Dunmurry—were captured by the army patrol and subsequently jailed. All three were members of the South Belfast UDA. Smallwoods was the driver of the getaway car.

Dáil Éireann elections

Devlin McAliskey in 1986
With Anthony Farrar-Hockley on After Dark in 1988: Licence to Kill?

She twice failed, in February and November 1982, in attempts to be elected to the Dublin North-Central constituency of the Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann.

Funeral of Dominic McGlinchey

In 1994, McAliskey attended the funeral of former Irish National Liberation Army Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey. The INLA had been the armed wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, which McAliskey had helped found. McAliskey kissed the coffin, which was carried by her, Sean McGlinchey, Dominic junior and Father O'Daly, who had given McGlinchey the last rites on Hardman's Gardens. During the funeral oration, she condemned the recent press coverage which had accused McGlinchey of drug dealing and criminality and said of the journalists responsible that they were "curs and dogs. May every one of them rot in hell. They have taken away Dominic McGlinchy's character and they will stand judgement for it. He was the finest Republican of them all. He never dishonoured the cause he believed in. His war was with the armed soldiers and the police of this state".

Following this speech, The Times reported that some of the mourners turned on the observing press corps and shouted abuse. A couple of months after the funeral, McAliskey explained her thinking to The Guardian. Their reporter, David Sharrock, asked if her tirade had been intended to counteract the negative stories about McGlinchey that had recently appeared in the press. McAliskey said

"It's very difficult to conduct a conversation about a person who bore no resemblance in the media to the person I knew for 10 years. His thinking was just fundamentally democratic and to acknowledge that Dominic McGlinchey had an intellect was to acknowledge the reality of this conflict here. Republicanism is not simply anti-partitionist and confined to Ireland. It is a tradition of secular egalitarian democracy. So yes. Dominic was the finest republican of his generation. The rest of it I might take back...I don't even believe in hell."

South Tyrone Empowerment Programme

McAliskey is chief executive of the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP) and was involved in its founding in 1997. STEP provides a range of services and advocacy in areas including community development, training, support and advice for migrants, policy work, and community enterprise.

Denied entry into the US

In 2003 she was barred from entering the United States and deported on the grounds that the United States Department of State had declared her to pose "a serious threat to the security of the United States" – apparently referring to her conviction for incitement to riot in 1969 – although she protested that she had no terrorist involvement and had frequently been permitted to travel to the United States in the past.

Later political activity

On 12 May 2007, McAliskey was a guest speaker at the socialist republican political party Éirígí's first Annual James Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin. She works with migrant workers to improve their treatment in Northern Ireland.

During the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election, McAliskey was an election agent for People before Profit's candidate in Foyle, Eamonn McCann. McCann was successfully elected.

During the campaigning for the 2024 European Parliament election in Ireland, McAliskey endorsed Clare Daly in the Dublin constituency.

Political views

Throughout her life, McAliskey has been associated with Irish Republicanism and various Socialist and Communist groups. In September 1969 the Unionist Stratton Mills dubbed Devlin "nothing less than Fidel Castro in a miniskirt". Devlin responded that ideologically she was "as left as James Connolly and the starry plough". In a May 1969 interview, McAliskey stated she had "never read Marx", but stated that "I have read Connolly and if James Connolly was a revolutionary socialist then so am I’. She also stated her admiration for Countess Markievicz.

Border Poll

In March 2017 McAliskey stated that she would not vote Yes in a Border Poll held on the prospect of a United Ireland. She also accused Sinn Féin of seeking United Ireland only if it could control that state. McAliskey stated: "Sinn Fein has no intention of moving forward to a united Ireland that it doesn't control." Additionally, she stated "Do I think the people who are in the current mainstream of political ideology - whether that's from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail right through Sinn Fein, on into the SDLP and on over to the Unionists and the DUP - should be let out to run a country? No". McAliskey expanded: "Would I like to dismantle the Irish Republic? Yes. Would I like to dismantle the northern state? Yes. I would like to start again and have a constitutional conference, a series of clear discussions and debates and a democratic process for building a new independent republic in which everybody could feel they belonged.

In November 2018, during a live public interview in Belfast during an episode of the Blindboy podcast, McAliskey stated she would not vote for a United Ireland unless that combined state was explicitly socialist. In August 2019 McAliskey made a similar statement, once again affirming she would not vote for a United Ireland in a Border Poll, asking rhetorically, "Who would want to join the Free State?". This prompted the Irish political magazine The Phoenix to accuse McAliskey of having abandoned Irish Republicanism. The Phoenix contrasted her statements with statements McAliskey made in 1992, in which she proclaimed she would "burn every blade of grass" in Ireland to retain her "birthright".

In September 2023 McAliskey stated: "I have no more interest than the average Unionist in being submerged into the Free State. Absolutely none. I can think of no worse fate that might befall a population than to be sucked into the existing system of the Republic of Ireland. I think we need a new Ireland, and I think it starts with a new Constitution."

Northern Ireland

Speaking in September 2016, McAliskey stated that if the Irish and British governments had "been serious" about reforming Northern Ireland following the Good Friday Agreement, they would have "insisted on a 20-year strategy for desegregating housing, desegregating education, ending our private and cultural segregation".

In February 2018 Declan Kearney of Sinn Féin claimed the Northern Ireland civil rights movement was influenced by decisions of the IRA and the Sinn Féin leadership. Kearney told the BBC "Republicans were involved. The IRA and the Sinn Féin leaderships encouraged their activists to organise and to campaign under the umbrella of the civil rights movement, alongside other democrats and other political activists - human rights activists, communists and trade unionists. So, the role of republicanism was central to the emergence of the civil rights movement along with many others." In response, McAliskey stated that Kearney's views were "delusional silliness" .

Republicanism

McAliskey stated in September 2016 that "If republicanism is about being true to the ideals of Thomas Paine and Wolfe Tone, then Sinn Féin are bad Republicans", and "If you take as the keystone of republicanism that authority exercised over a human being, without that human being’s acquiescence and knowledge, is a usurpation of that person’s rights, then by what definition are Sinn Féin republicans?".

Abortion

McAliskey has described herself as a "hardliner" on abortion, stating "I don’t need, and you are not entitled to, an explanation about what I do with me, to make you feel better. You can’t say some abortions are okay and some are not. You are either pro-choice or you are not. I am a hardliner and most people don’t dare enunciate that view yet. I have a clear, old-fashioned bottom line: abortion on demand is a valid demand".

McAliskey believes in abortion at any point of the pregnancy: "So if it's my body and it's my right, it's my right from the start to the end. So don't tell me to settle for the first 12 weeks, the first 24 weeks, a position where a foetus may not have any real chance of survival. Don't tell me these things will be acceptable, but making a choice for myself in any circumstance is my choice. I've always believed in the fundamental right of any woman to secure a safe, a free termination of pregnancy, an abortion, when she asks for it – and that there's a full stop and an exclamation mark after that."

Personal life

In 1971, she gave birth to a daughter, Róisín, which cost her some political support because she was unmarried. She later married Róisín's father Michael McAliskey on her 26th birthday on 23 April 1973.

In popular culture

In 1969, director and producer John Goldschmidt made the documentary film Bernadette Devlin for ATV, which was shown on the British television channel ITV and on the American television channel CBS's 60 Minutes programme, and included footage of Devlin during the Battle of the Bogside. She was also interviewed at length by Marcel Ophüls in A Sense of Loss (1972). Another documentary, Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey, directed by Irish programme-maker Leila Doolan, was released in 2011. At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival a biographical film of Devlin was announced, but she stated that "the whole concept is abhorrent to me" and the film was not made.

Devlin, and her assault after the Bloody Sunday massacre on the British Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, were the subject of the title song of the 1990 music album, Slap! by anarchist pop/punk band Chumbawamba.

In the 2002 film, Bloody Sunday, Devlin is played by actress Mary Moulds.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byGeorge Forrest Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster
19691974
Succeeded byJohn Dunlop
Preceded byLes Huckfield Baby of the House
1969–1974
Succeeded byDafydd Elis-Thomas
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