Eddie McAteer

Eddie McAteer (1914 – 28 March 1986) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.

For the Christian right figure from Memphis, Tennessee, see Ed McAteer.

McAteer speaking in an interview to RTÉ in 1968

Born in Coatbridge, Scotland, 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, involved in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin, Eddie chose nationalist politics. He was elected as the Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland) Member of Parliament for Mid Londonderry in the 1945 Northern Ireland general election. He was a founder member of the Anti-Partition League of Ireland, and became its vice chairman in 1947, then its chairman in 1953.

In 1952, McAteer was elected to Londonderry City Council, 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 the Deputy Leader of the Nationalist Party at Stormont. He became prominent in the campaign calling for the establishment of a university in Derry.[1]

In 1964, he became its leader, and the following year accepted the post of Leader of the Opposition, although he lost his seat in the 1969 Northern Ireland general election to John Hume. While in his early career, he had been a militant nationalist, publishing Irish Action – a call for civil disobedience – with the start of The Troubles, he repeatedly called for moderation.[2]

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
  1. History – The Bogside Archived 25 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. BBC NI – Schools – GCSE Bitesize Revision – History – History Makers – Eddie McAteer

Sources
Parliament of Northern Ireland
Vacant
no official opposition
 Leader of the Official Opposition
1965–1969		 Vacant
no official opposition
Preceded by
George Leeke		 Member of Parliament for Mid Londonderry
1945–1953		 Succeeded by
Patrick Gormley
Preceded by
Paddy Maxwell		 Member of Parliament for Foyle
1953–1969		 Succeeded by
John Hume
Party political offices
Preceded by
James McSparran		 Chairman of the Irish Anti-Partition League
1953–1956		 Vacant
League moribund.
Formally dissolved 1958
Preceded by
Joe Stewart		 Leader of the Nationalist Party at Stormont
1964–1969		 Succeeded by
Roderick O'Connor
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