Oliver Gibson | |
---|---|
Member of Omagh District Council | |
In office 15 May 1985 –5 May 2005 | |
Preceded by | New district |
Succeeded by | Clive McFarland |
Constituency | Omagh Town |
In office 20 May 1981 –15 May 1985 | |
Preceded by | Cecil Walker |
Succeeded by | District abolished |
Constituency | Omagh Area C |
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for West Tyrone | |
In office 25 June 1998 –26 November 2003 | |
Preceded by | New Creation |
Succeeded by | Thomas Buchanan |
Member of the Northern Ireland Forum for West Tyrone | |
In office 30 May 1996 –25 April 1998 | |
Preceded by | New forum |
Succeeded by | Forum dissolved |
Personal details | |
Born | Beragh,County Tyrone,Northern Ireland | 28 June 1934
Died | 27 April 2018 83) Ballymoney,County Antrim,Northern Ireland | (aged
Political party | Democratic Unionist Party |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Other organizations | Orange Order Apprentice Boys of Derry |
Oliver Gibson (born 28 June 1934 in Beragh,County Tyrone,Northern Ireland,died 27 April 2018 in Ballymoney,County Antrim,Northern Ireland) was a founding member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and served as a DUP councillor for West Tyrone. [1] He also served as an MLA for West Tyrone in the first session of the Assembly.
Gibson had been a teacher and vice-principal in Omagh High School as well as a Lieutenant in the Ulster Defence Regiment. In December 1974 it was reported that Lieutenant Gibson and a Corporal had been charged with the assault of two men in Omagh causing them actual bodily harm. [2]
In October 1983 Gibson announced the creation of a co-operative with a £1 million fund to promote Protestant businesses in the Mid-Tyrone area. A leaflet giving details of the venture stated that shareholder membership "shall be solely Protestant". The Omagh Alliance Party association criticised the proposal,saying it was "ludicrous" that the primary aim of a business co-operative was to "stop the enroachment of the Church of Rome`". [3]
In 1990 it was reported that Gibson had been "kicked out" of the Apprentice Boys of Derry because of his opposition to their application to the International Fund for Ireland for grant support. Gibson described the application as seeking "blood money". [4]
His niece,Esther Gibson,was one of the 29 victims killed in the 1998 Omagh bombing. [5]
In 1999,David Jordan,a former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier,broke down in a bar and claimed to be part of a patrol that killed a nationalist councillor,Patsy Kelly,in 1974. Jordan reportedly implicated Gibson in the murder. Jordan was never formally questioned in relation to the matter and no charges were ever brought against Gibson. [6] [7] [8]
In 2003,it emerged that Gibson was having an affair with his 35-year-old secretary Audrey McKenzie and was living with her in Ballybogy,County Antrim. His wife confirmed that he had left her and was no longer living in their Sixmilecross home. [9] He retired as a councillor in Omagh District Council shortly afterwards. [10]
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905,emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson,it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland,it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles,during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone,Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city,Belfast,is 68 miles (109.5 km) to the east of Omagh,and Derry is 34 miles (55 km) to the north.
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 described as centre-right to 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 Irish language is,since 2022,an official language in Northern Ireland. The main dialect spoken there is Ulster Irish. Protection for the Irish language in Northern Ireland stems largely from the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
The Irish Independence Party (IIP) was a nationalist political party in Northern Ireland,founded in October 1977 by Frank McManus and Fergus McAteer. The party was effectively a merger of Unity and the Nationalist Party,as the bulk of activists and councillors from the two movements joined IIP. However several independent councillors also joined the party. It was boosted in the late 1970s by the defection of a prominent Protestant Larne Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) councillor,John Turnley,later the party chairman,who was killed in 1980 in Carnlough,County Antrim,by an attack claimed by the Ulster Defence Association.
Ulster Resistance (UR),or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM),is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Jordanstown is a townland and electoral ward in County Antrim,Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated in the civil parish of Carnmoney and the historic barony of Belfast Lower. It had a population of 6,225 in the 2011 census,with an average age of 40.
Thomas Buchanan is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for West Tyrone since 2003. Buchanan is the DUP Spokesperson for Victims Rights and Groups Liaison. He is also one of the DUP's members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
William Paul Girvan is a Northern Irish politician who was the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2017 to 2024. Girvan has been the DUP's spokesperson for Transport. He was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 2003 to 2007,and then from 2010 to 2017.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
Tommy Kirkham is a Northern Ireland loyalist political figure and former councillor. Beginning his political career with the Democratic Unionist Party,he was then associated with the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Political Research Group although he has since been expelled from both groups. He was a former deputy mayor of Newtownabbey and sat on Newtownabbey Borough Council as an Independent Loyalist.
The Coagh ambush was a military confrontation that took place in County Tyrone,Northern Ireland,on 3 June 1991,during The Troubles,when a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service unit from its East Tyrone Brigade was ambushed by the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) at the village of Coagh,in County Tyrone,whilst on its way to kill a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The ambush resulted in the deaths of all three IRA men involved.
The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the A2 road,a traffic route which links Belfast to the County Antrim coast.
The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry,passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road,a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge,Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others.
A by-election for the UK House of Commons constituency of Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland was held on 7 March 2013. The election was triggered by the resignation of Martin McGuinness,who had been elected to the seat in 1997 as the Sinn Féin candidate. The election was won by Francie Molloy,also of Sinn Féin.
The first election to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council,part of the Northern Ireland local elections on 22 May 2014,returned 40 members to the newly-formed council via Single Transferable Vote.
Margaret Elizabeth Rosemary Barton is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and former schoolteacher who was a Fermanagh and Omagh Councillor for the Mid Tyrone DEA from 2022 to 2023,having previously represented Erne North from 2014 to 2016. Barton was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2016 to 2022.
A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of West Tyrone on 3 May 2018,following the resignation of Barry McElduff,who had been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 2017. McElduff had become embroiled in a social media controversy which had resulted in his suspension from Sinn Féin on 8 January. He announced his resignation on 15 January 2018.
Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 2 May 2019. The last elections were held in 2014. 819 candidates contested 462 seats across Northern Ireland's 11 local government districts. 1,305,384 people aged 18 and over were eligible to vote,and 52.7% of the electorate turned out.
Deborah Erskine is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland. She was elected as a councillor for Erne North in the 2019 Fermanagh and Omagh District Council election,and has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone since 11 October 2021. Erskine is the DUP Spokesperson for Promoting the Union with Young People and New Communities.