Barry McElduff

{{Short description|Northern Irish Sinn Féin politician}} {{Use Irish English|date=December 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Barry McElduff |image = Barry McElduff - 29701837545.jpg |office = Member of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council |term_start = 4 May 2019 |term_end = |predecessor = Joanne Donnelly | successor = |constituency = Omagh |office1 = Member of Parliament for West Tyrone |term_start1 = 8 June 2017 |term_end1 = 16 January 2018 |predecessor1 = Pat Doherty |successor1 = Órfhlaith Begley |majority1 = |constituency_AM2 = West Tyrone |assembly2 = Northern Ireland |predecessor2 = Constituency established |successor2 = Catherine Kelly |term_start2 = 25 June 1998 |term_end2 = 9 June 2017 | office3 = Member of Omagh District Council | constituency3 = West Tyrone | term_start3 = 7 June 2001 | term_end3 = 5 May 2011 | predecessor3 = Kevin McQuaid | successor3 = Glenn Campbell | office4 = Northern Ireland Forum Member for West Tyrone | term_start4 = 30 May 1996 | term_end4 = 25 April 1998 | predecessor4 = ''New forum'' | successor4 = ''Forum dissolved'' |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1966|8|16|df=y}} |birth_place = Aghagogan, Northern Ireland |death_date = |death_place = |party = Sinn Féin |spouse = Paula McElduff |alma_mater = Queen's University Belfast }} '''Columba Barry McElduff''' ({{Langx|ga|Colmcille Barra Mac Giolla Dhuibh}};<ref>{{Cite web|title=Caithfidh an Aire obair ar son Foras na Gaeilge – Mac Giolla Dhuibh|url=https://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/14929|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.sinnfein.ie|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421202222/https://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/14929|url-status=dead}}</ref> born 16 August 1966)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/Xz5elhX8T57nZix_yWMC2_VySvE/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Barry MC ELDUFF - Personal Appointments |access-date=2020-01-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://twitter.com/BarryMcElduff |publisher=Twitter |title=Barry McElduff (@BarryMcElduff) |access-date=2020-01-28}}</ref> is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Ireland Assembly from its creation in 1998 until his election as MP in 2017. He resigned his seat on 16 January 2018 after publishing a video of himself balancing a Kingsmill loaf on his head, on the date of the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42688698|title=Barry McElduff resigns as MP for West Tyrone|work=BBC News|date=15 January 2018|accessdate=15 January 2018}}</ref>

==Early life== McElduff was born on 16 August 1966 in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and was raised in the Aghagogan townland. He was educated at the Christian Brothers Grammar School in Omagh, before attending Queen's University Belfast.<ref>{{Who's Who | title=McElduff, Barry| id = U289501| volume = 2018 | edition = February 2018 online | access-date = 13 February 2018 }}</ref> He became an Irish republican activist for Sinn Féin.

==Career== In 1992 McElduff was given an 18-month suspended sentence for assisting the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the false imprisonment of a suspected police informer.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Loughlin |first=Ed |date=7 January 2018 |title=Tweet on Massacre Anniversary Puts Harsh Light on Sinn Fein Member |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/world/europe/sinn-fein-barry-mcelduff.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York |access-date=12 January 2018}}</ref>

At the 1992 general election, he unsuccessfully contested Mid Ulster. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for the West Tyrone constituency in 1996, and has since held this seat on the Northern Ireland Assembly.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

McElduff has chaired the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee of the Assembly and has served previously on other committees, including Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, Education and Employment and Learning.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

In 2000, McElduff was elected to Omagh District Council. In 2012, McElduff and Lord Laird visited Scotland to learn more about potential Scottish independence.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|title=Lord Laird and Barry McElduff make an unlikely Union|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17027802|work=BBC News|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref> At the snap general election held on 8 June 2017, he became MP<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/barry-mcelduff/4646|title=Barry McElduff MP|website=UK Parliament}}</ref> for West Tyrone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ulsterherald.com/2017/06/09/barry-mcelduff-elected-mp-west-tyrone/|title=Barry McElduff elected as MP for West Tyrone|date=9 June 2017|website=The Ulster Herald|access-date=11 June 2017|archive-date=12 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612010357/http://ulsterherald.com/2017/06/09/barry-mcelduff-elected-mp-west-tyrone/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

McElduff is known for performing comedy sets at Sinn Féin events, and in 2015 performed a stand-up gig in Omagh. He is also known for posting comedic videos on social media.<ref name="irishnews">[http://www.irishnews.com/news/2018/01/08/news/sinn-fein-s-barry-mcelduff-s-comedic-career-1226643/ "Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff's class clown persona falls flat"]. ''The Irish News''. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.</ref> McElduff has published two books: ''Keep er' Lit'' (2012) contains short stories and anecdotes from his experiences of republicanism, Gaelic games and community activism, while ''Sustain the Flame'' (2015) looks back at his forays into social media.<ref name="irishnews"/>

===Resignation=== On 5 January 2018, McElduff tweeted a video of himself in a shop with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head, asking where the shop kept its bread. As it coincided with the 42nd anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre—where the Provisional Irish Republican Army murdered ten Protestant civilians—unionists accused him of mocking the massacre and the video was widely criticised, including by nationalists. Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said "mocking is depraved" and called the video "inhuman".<ref name="kingsmill-apology">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42590874|title=Sinn Féin MP apology over Kingsmill tweet|work=BBC News|date=6 January 2018|access-date=6 January 2018|language=en-GB}}</ref> McElduff deleted it and apologised, saying he was not alluding to the massacre and offering to meet the victims' families.<ref name="kingsmill-apology"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/sinn-fein-mp-barry-mcelduff-14120494|title=Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff issues apology over Kingsmill video|first=Ryan|last=Smith|date=6 January 2018|publisher=Belfast Live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/sinn-feins-barry-mcelduff-apologises-over-kingsmill-loaf-video-on-massacre-anniversary-821522.html|title=Sinn Féin's Barry McElduff apologises over 'Kingsmill loaf' video on massacre anniversary|date=6 January 2018|work=Irish Examiner}}</ref> On 8 January, Sinn Féin apologised for McElduff's actions, condemned the video,<ref>{{cite news|title=Sinn Fein apologises for 'indefensible' video of MP posing with loaf of bread on anniversary of Kingsmill massacre|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sinn-fein-apology-barry-mcelduff-kingsmill-massacre-tweet-northern-ireland-troubles-west-tyrone-mp-a8147591.html|last=Young|first=David|work=The Independent|location=London|date=8 January 2018}}</ref> and suspended him from Sinn Féin for three months.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-42610735|title=Sinn Féin suspends Barry McElduff over Kingsmills video|publisher=BBC News|date=8 January 2018|accessdate=8 January 2018}}</ref> McElduff announced on 15 January that he was resigning his seat.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2018/0115/933385-mcelduff-sinn-fein-westminster/ |title=McElduff to stand down as MP over Kingsmill video controversy |publisher=RTE News |date=15 January 2018}}</ref> On 16 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed Barry McElduff as the Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, a nominal office of profit under the Crown which causes the holder's parliamentary seat to be vacated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/three-hundreds-of-chiltern-barry-mcelduff|title=Three Hundreds of Chiltern: Barry McElduff|website=GOV.UK}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100504103102/http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/14977 Sinn Féin: Barry McElduff MLA West Tyrone] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928094422/http://www.stratagem-ni.com/westtyronemlas.php Stratagem: WestTyroneMLAs]

{{s-start}} {{s-par|ni/for}} {{s-new|forum}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for West Tyrone|years=1996–1998}} {{s-non|reason=Forum dissolved}} |- {{s-par|ni/ass}} {{s-new|assembly}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the Legislative Assembly for West Tyrone|years=1998–2017}} {{s-aft|after=Catherine Kelly}} |- {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Pat Doherty}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for West Tyrone|years=2017–2018}} {{s-aft|after=Órfhlaith Begley}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McElduff, Barry}} Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (since 1922) Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Category:Politicians from County Tyrone Category:People educated at Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh Category:Sinn Féin MLAs Category:Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) Category:UK MPs 2017–2019 Category:Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland