Frank McCoubrey | |
---|---|
78th Lord Mayor of Belfast | |
In office 1 June 2020 –1 June 2021 | |
Deputy | Paul McCusker [1] |
Preceded by | Daniel Baker |
Succeeded by | Kate Nicholl |
21st Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast | |
In office 1 June 2000 –1 June 2001 | |
Preceded by | Marie Moore |
Succeeded by | Hugh Smyth |
High Sheriff of Belfast | |
In office January 2009 –January 2010 | |
Preceded by | Margaret McKenzie |
Succeeded by | Christopher Stalford |
Member of Belfast City Council | |
Assumed office 21 May 1997 [2] | |
Preceded by | Joe Coggle |
Constituency | Court |
Personal details | |
Born | Frank McCoubrey 5 February 1967 Highfield,Belfast,Northern Ireland |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Democratic Unionist Party (2012 - present) |
Other political affiliations | Independent (2001-2012) Ulster Democratic Party (until 2001) |
Known for | Ulster loyalist politician |
Frank McCoubrey (born 5 February 1967) is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist,as well as a community activist and researcher. McCoubrey is a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA since 1997,sitting as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member since 2012. [3] He is a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG). McCoubrey is a native of Highfield,Belfast. [4]
In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in West Belfast. [5] McCoubrey was first elected to Belfast City Council in 1997 as a member of the Ulster Democratic Party [6] and was eventually elected as deputy mayor in 2000,with the votes of the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party councillors. [7] [8] Following the collapse of the UDP and the resulting decision of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) to reconvene the UPRG McCoubrey was chosen along with Sammy Duddy,Frankie Gallagher and Tommy Kirkham to lead the new group. [9] McCoubrey became one of the leading figures in the UPRG and even joined Kirkham and Gallagher in meeting Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2004,along with UDA leader Jackie McDonald and prisoners' spokesman Stanley Fletcher in a 'historic' event. [10]
In his role as a councillor McCoubrey opened early channels between loyalism and Sinn Féin,joining UDP colleague John White in holding an unofficial meeting with Alex Maskey in Belfast City Hall in June 2001. [11] McCoubrey also led a campaign in 2003 to bring Gerry Adams to trial for violation of the human rights of the people of the Shankill. McCoubrey,who organised a petition to this effect,argued that Adams' and Sinn Féin's policy of abstentionism meant that the people of the Shankill were being denied representation and sought to bring a case to the European courts to alter the situation. [12] Ultimately,however,nothing came of the initiative.[ citation needed ]
McCoubrey's term of office as deputy mayor was soon marked by controversy after he wore his official robes and chain of office to a "Loyalist Day of Culture" held on the Lower Shankill on 19 August 2000,where he shared a stage with UDA members Johnny Adair and Michael Stone at the height of a loyalist feud between that group and the Ulster Volunteer Force. [13] Adair had used the Day to bring the feud to its conclusion by running the Ulster Volunteer Force out of the Shankill by attacking their stronghold,the Rex Bar. [14] Calls were made for McCoubrey to resign,although he claimed that he did not know Adair and Stone would be there and that he was not expecting the gun-fire in the paramilitary show of strength that ended the night. [14] Ultimately the Council decided not to take any action against McCoubrey, [15] with a motion of censure brought in by the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland's David Alderdice defeated in the council. [16] McCoubrey also faced criticism from a former Lord Mayor of Belfast,Hugh Smyth,who had been a friend of his until the incident,with a number of Smyth's colleagues in the Progressive Unionist Party amongst those ran out of the Shankill by Adair and 'C' Company. [14]
McCoubrey remains a member of the Council. He officially sat as an Independent,as do all elected members of the UPRG. [3] However,in November 2012 it was announced that McCoubrey was giving up his independent status to become a member of the DUP. [17] McCoubrey remains a prominent community activist in the Shankill,working to secure increased funding for the Shankill district,which was named in 2008 as Northern Ireland's most deprived area. [18]
In December 2008,McCoubrey was nominated by Bob Stoker for the post of High Sheriff of Belfast [19] and was sworn into office on 21 January 2009. [20] Subsequently he successfully defended his council seat in the 2011 local elections. [21] He retained his seat for the DUP in 2014. [22]
He later stood in West Belfast at the 2015 general election,coming fourth with 7.8% of the vote. [23]
At the 2016 Assembly election,he was the DUP's candidate for Belfast West,where he came within 90 votes of winning the first seat for a Unionist party in 13 years. [24] At the 2017 Assembly election,he was the last candidate to be eliminated,outpolling the defeated SDLP member,Alex Attwood. [25]
He increased his vote to 13.4% at the 2017 general election,coming a distant second to Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey. [26]
McCoubrey topped the poll at the 2019 Council election,and was elected on the first count. [27]
He was pushed into third place at the 2019 general election,though did see a small increase in his vote by 0.5%. [28]
In 2020,McCoubrey was appointed Lord Mayor of Belfast,replacing Sinn Fein's Daniel Baker. [29] Due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic the traditional handover was replaced with a smaller meeting in front of 18 of the 60 Belfast councillors inside the chamber at City Hall.
McCoubrey stood again in Belfast West at the 2022 Assembly election.He was beaten by People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll for the final seat,despite initially polling higher than him with 4,166 first-preference votes (9.54%),to Carroll's 3,279 (7.51%). [30]
He topped the poll again in 2023. [31]
At the 2024 general election,he finished fourth with 4,304 votes (10.8%). [32]
McCoubrey is a member of the board of directors of the Shankill Mirror,a newspaper aimed at the loyalist communities of the Greater Shankill and North Belfast. [33]
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of the participants of the Troubles. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism,particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In the 1970s,uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks that used the cover name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) so that the UDA would not be outlawed. The British government proscribed the UFF as a terrorist group in November 1973,but the UDA itself was not proscribed until August 1992.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson,who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast,becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC),for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland,with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast.
Peter David Robinson is a retired Northern Irish politician who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2008 until 2016 and Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2008 until 2015. Until his retirement in 2016,Robinson was involved in Northern Irish politics for over 40 years,being a founding member of the DUP along with Ian Paisley.
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Belfast North is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is John Finucane.
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