Malachi Curran

Malachi Curran
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum
In office
30 May 1996 – 25 April 1998
Preceded byForum created
Succeeded byForum dissolved
ConstituencyTop-up list
Member of Down District Council
In office
17 May 1989 – 19 May 1993
Preceded byGeraldine Ritchie
Succeeded byGerard Mahon
ConstituencyDownpatrick
In office
20 May 1981 – 15 May 1985
Preceded byGeorge Flinn
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
ConstituencyDown Area B
Personal details
BornCounty Down, Northern Ireland
Political partyLabour Party of Northern Ireland (1998–2016)
Independent Labour (1981–1985)
Other political
affiliations
Labour Coalition (1996–1998)
SDLP (1989–1996)

Malachi Curran is a Northern Irish politician.

Career

He was elected to Down District Council in 1981 as a Labour candidate. He did not stand in 1985, but was elected to the same council in 1989 for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).[1]

He resigned from the SDLP to stand as a Labour coalition candidate for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996. Although the group did not win any constituency seats, it was awarded two top-up seats, which went to Hugh Casey and Curran.

Shortly after the elections to the Forum, the Coalition dissolved. Curran was recognised as leader of the Labour group in the Forum.[2]

With seven other leaders of Forum groupings that had supported the Good Friday Agreement, he won the Harriman Democracy Prize of the National Democratic Institute in 1998.[3]

Curran then formed the Labour Party of Northern Ireland. Under this label, he failed to take a seat standing in South Down at the 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election, winning only 1% of the first preference votes.[4]

Curran stood as an independent at the 2003 elections to the Assembly, but saw his vote drop to 0.4%.[4] At the 2007 election, he placed bottom in South Down, taking just 123 votes.[5]

After leaving politics, Curran became the owner of a pub, the Ann Boal Inn in Killough, County Down, following the death of Ann Boal, who had been a longtime friend of Curran.[6]

References

  1. ^ Down District Council Elections 1993-2011 Archived 23 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, ARK.ac.uk; accessed 28 August 2017.
  2. ^ House of Commons Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk, 6 December 1996.
  3. ^ Past Harriman recipients Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, ndi.org; accessed 28 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b Elections: South Down Archived 21 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, ARK
  5. ^ Northern Ireland election Archived 8 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 9 March 2007
  6. ^ Johnny Caldwell, Pub's Good Friday Agreement link Archived 8 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News (March 19, 2008).