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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Bernadette Devlin
| caption = Devlin in
| imagesize =
| office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]]
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| predecessor = [[George Forrest (Northern Ireland politician)|George Forrest]]
| successor = [[John Dunlop (Northern Ireland politician)|John Dunlop]]
| 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=
| birth_place = [[Cookstown]], [[County Tyrone]], [[Northern Ireland]]
| party = [[Independent Republican (Ireland)|Independent Republican]] (1970–1974),<br />(1976–1977),<br />(1978–present)
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| birth_name = Josephine Bernadette Devlin
| children = [[Róisín McAliskey]]<br />Deirdre McAliskey
| nationality = [[
| alma_mater = [[Queen'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
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.
==Political beginnings==▼
[[File:Ulster.ogv|thumb|left|thumbtime=0:21|Devlin in a 1970 [[newsreel]] film about [[the Troubles]].]]▼
Devlin was born in [[Cookstown]], [[County Tyrone]], to a [[Catholic]] family, where she was the third eldest 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.<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>▼
Since 1997 McAliskey has worked as the head of the [[South Tyrone Empowerment Programme]], an [[NGO]] based in [[Dungannon]] which focuses on community development.
She attended St Patrick's Girls Academy in [[Dungannon]].<ref>CAIN: Biographies of Prominent People – McAliskey</ref> 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 (Ireland)|People's Democracy]].<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> Devlin was subsequently excluded from the university.<ref name="Independent"/>▼
▲Devlin was born in [[Cookstown]], [[County Tyrone]], to a [[Catholic]] family, where she was the third
▲She attended [[St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon|St Patrick's Girls Academy]] in [[Dungannon]].<ref>CAIN: Biographies of Prominent People – McAliskey</ref> 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 (Ireland)|People's Democracy]].<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
She stood unsuccessfully against [[James Chichester-Clark]] in the [[1969 Northern Ireland general election]]. When [[George Forrest (Northern Ireland politician)|George Forrest]], the MP for [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]], died, she fought the [[1969 Mid Ulster by-election|subsequent by-election]] on the "[[Unity (Northern Ireland)|Unity]]" [[Ticket (election)|ticket]], defeating the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster Parliament]]. Aged 21, she was the [[Baby of the House|youngest MP at the time]], and remained the youngest woman ever elected to Westminster until the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|May 2015 general election]] when 20-year-old [[Mhairi Black]] 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>▼
==Political activism==
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 (United Kingdom)#Parliamentarians|Oath of Allegiance]]<ref>''Journal of the House of Commons'', Session 1968–69, p. 217</ref> and made her [[maiden speech]] within an hour.<ref>[http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1969/apr/22/northern-ireland#S5CV0782P0_19690422_HOC_271 Maiden speech in Commons, 22 April 1969] {{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 }}, hansard.millbanksystems.com; accessed 8 August 2015.</ref>▼
▲===Political beginnings===
▲She stood unsuccessfully against [[James Chichester-Clark]] in the [[1969 Northern Ireland general election]]. When [[George Forrest (Northern Ireland politician)|George Forrest]], the MP for [[Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Ulster]], died, she fought the [[1969 Mid Ulster by-election|subsequent by-election]] on the "[[Unity (Northern Ireland)|Unity]]" [[Ticket (election)|ticket]], defeating the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] candidate, Forrest's widow Anna, and was elected to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster Parliament]]. Aged 21, she was the [[Baby of the House|youngest MP at the time]], and remained the youngest woman ever elected to Westminster until the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|May 2015 general election]] when 20-year-old [[Mhairi Black]] 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 [[Irish republican]] principle of [[abstentionism]]. On 22 April 1969, the day before her 22nd birthday, she swore the [[Oath of Allegiance (United Kingdom)#Parliamentarians|Oath of Allegiance]]<ref>''Journal of the House of Commons'', Session 1968–69, p. 217</ref> and made her [[maiden speech]] within an hour.<ref>[
===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
===U.S.
▲[[File:Ulster.ogv|thumb|
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
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 (flag)|starry plough]]". 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=[[RTÉ]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
===Bloody Sunday===
Having witnessed the [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|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.<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=[[The Independent]]|date=9 March 1997|access-date=2 June 2007}}</ref><ref>[
The day following Bloody Sunday, Devlin slapped [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Secretary of State for the Home Department|Home Secretary]] [[Reginald Maudling]] across the face when he
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."<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=
Devlin appeared on ''[[Firing Line (TV program)|Firing Line]]'' 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=[[The Guardian]] |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 [[Irish Republican Socialist Party]] (IRSP) with [[Seamus Costello]] 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 [[Official Sinn Féin]] and,
===Support for prisoners===
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=[[New York Times]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
===Attempted assassination===
On 16 January 1981, Devlin and her husband were
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=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|year=1999|page=168|isbn=0-7475-4519-7}}</ref> An army patrol from [[3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment|3 Para]] entered the house
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]].<ref name="guardian">[https://www.theguardian.com/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1124657,00.html "Devlin is 'very ill' after shooting"], ''The Guardian'', 17 January 1981.</ref><ref>[[Peter Taylor (journalist)|Peter Taylor]], ''Loyalists'', London: Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 168.</ref>
Line 67 ⟶ 75:
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.<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===
[[Image:Bernadette Devlin (1986).jpg|thumb|250px|Devlin McAliskey in 1986]]
[[File:Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and Anthony Farrar-Hockley appearing on 'After Dark', 18 March 1988.jpg|320px|right|thumb|With [[Anthony Farrar-Hockley]] on ''[[After Dark (TV series)|After Dark]]'' in 1988: ''[[After Dark (TV programme)#Bernadette McAliskey|Licence to Kill?]]'' ]]▼
She twice failed, in [[February 1982 Irish general election|February]] and [[November 1982 Irish general election|November 1982]], in attempts to be elected to the [[Dublin North-Central (Dáil constituency)|Dublin North-Central]] constituency of the Irish parliament, [[Dáil Éireann]].<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===▼
==Denied entry into the US==▼
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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Tim Pat |date=2000 |title=The I.R.A. |publisher=HarperCollins |page=541 }}</ref>▼
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/devl-m05.shtml|title=World Socialist News|publisher=Wsws.org|access-date=17 June 2010|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606063846/http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/devl-m05.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2013}}<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>▼
Following this speech, some of the mourners turned on the observing press corps and shouted abuse, reported The Times.<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 later 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>}}
==
McAliskey is chief executive of the [[South Tyrone Empowerment Programme]] (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 [[community development]], 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===
▲==Funeral of Dominic McGlinchey==
▲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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/devl-m05.shtml|title=World Socialist News|date=5 March 2003 |publisher=Wsws.org|access-date=17 June 2010|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606063846/http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/devl-m05.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2013}}<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>
▲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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Tim Pat |date=2000 |title=The I.R.A. |publisher=HarperCollins |page=541 }}</ref>
===Later political activity===
▲Following this speech, some of the mourners turned on the observing press corps and shouted abuse, reported The Times.<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 later 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."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sharrock |first=D |date=9 April 1994 |title=Seer of Truths They'd Rather Not Hear |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
On 12 May 2007,
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.<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=[[The Irish Times]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
▲==Personal life==
In 1971, while still unmarried, she gave birth to a daughter, [[Róisín McAliskey|Róisín]],<ref name="Independent"/> which cost her some political support.<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 married 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>▼
During the campaigning for the [[2024 European Parliament election in Ireland]], McAliskey endorsed [[Clare Daly]] 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=[[Limerick Leader]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
▲On 12 May 2007, she was a guest speaker at the socialist republican political party [[Éirígí]]'s first Annual [[James Connolly]] commemoration in [[Arbour Hill]], Dublin.<ref>{{cite web|title=éirígí Árd Fheis 2007 |url=http://www.eirigi.org/Ard_Fheis_07/bernadette_mcaliskey_07_address.html |publisher=[[éirígí]] |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 [[migrant workers]] to improve their treatment in Northern Ireland.<ref name="Independent"/>
==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 (flag)|starry plough]]".<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=[[RTÉ]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref> In a May 1969 interview, McAliskey stated she had "never read [[Karl Marx|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]].<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 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.<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=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2018}} </ref>
In November 2018, during a live public interview in Belfast during an episode of the [[Blindboy Boatclub|Blindboy]] podcast, McAliskey stated she would not vote for a [[United Ireland]] 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 rhethoically "Who would want to join the [[Irish Free State|Free State]]"?. This prompted the Irish Republican-orientated magazine ''[[The Phoenix (magazine)|The Phoenix]]'' 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=[[The Phoenix (magazine)|The Phoenix]] |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=[[The Impartial Reporter]] |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 [[Good Friday Agreement]], 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 [[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" .<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=[[BBC News]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
===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?".<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=[[News Letter]] |location= |access-date=18 August 2024}} </ref>
==Personal life==
▲In 1971
==In popular culture==
▲[[File:Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and Anthony Farrar-Hockley appearing on 'After Dark', 18 March 1988.jpg|320px|right|thumb|With [[Anthony Farrar-Hockley]] on ''[[After Dark (TV series)|After Dark]]'' in 1988: ''[[After Dark (TV programme)#Bernadette McAliskey|Licence to Kill?]]'' ]]
In 1969, director and producer [[John Goldschmidt]] made the documentary film ''Bernadette Devlin'' for [[Associated Television|ATV]], which was shown on the British television channel [[ITV (TV network)|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 (film)|A Sense of Loss]]'' (1972). Another documentary, ''Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey'', directed by Irish programme-maker Leila Doolan, was released in 2011.<ref>[http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/programme.php?fest=4&ct=new-irish-cinema&cid=2&t=bernadette-notes-on-a-political-journey&id=48 Galway Film Fleadh website] {{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 [[2008 Cannes Film Festival]] a [[biographical film]] of Devlin was announced,<ref name="Independent"/> but she stated that "the whole concept is abhorrent to me" and the film was not made.
In the 2002 film ''[[Bloody Sunday (film)|Bloody Sunday]]'', Bernadette is played by actress Mary Moulds.▼
| 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, ''[[Bloody Sunday (film)|Bloody Sunday]]'',
▲McAliskey, and her assault on the British Home Secretary, [[Reginald Maudling]], after the Bloody Sunday massacre, were the subject of the title song of the 1990 music album, ''[[Slap!]]'' by [[anarchism|anarchist]] pop/punk band [[Chumbawamba]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slap! |url=https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=en&id=40798}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
==References==
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==External links==
*[https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy/9264e6a2-c5c5-43ac-8b73-229b56c48d08 Podcast Interview with Bernadette Devlin McAliskey]. [[The Blindboy Podcast]]. 2018
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42yJcDQSsRQ Public Lecture by Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. 'A Terrible State of Chassis', Derry, 2016 (51 min. video)], Field Day, 30 September 2016.
* McAliskey, Bernadette Devlin. [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/devlin69.htm ''The Price of My Soul'' (Foreword and Chapter Twelve)], cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 8 August 2015.
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