Raymond Ferguson | |
|---|---|
| Member of Fermanagh District Council | |
| In office 15 May 1985 –5 May 2005 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Arlene Foster |
| Constituency | Enniskillen |
| In office 18 May 1977 –15 May 1985 | |
| Preceded by | George Cathcart |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Constituency | Fermanagh Area E |
| Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone | |
| In office 20 October 1982 –1986 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 16,1941 County Fermanagh,Northern Ireland |
| Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
Raymond Ferguson (born 16 February 1941) is a Northern Irish former rugby union player with Ulster Rugby and a politician with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).
Part of a well established Ulster Unionist family in his native County Fermanagh,Ferguson represented his province at rugby. [1] He studied law at Queen's University,Belfast and subsequently practised as a solicitor,initially in Belfast and then Coleraine before establishing his own still extant legal partnership in Enniskillen. [2]
Ferguson gained his first elected office in 1977 when he was elected to Fermanagh District Council. He held a seat on the body until 2005. [3] He served as Council Chairman from 1981 to 1983. [1] He was chosen as UUP candidate for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency for the 1979 general election although the seat was retained by sitting Independent Republican MP Frank Maguire. [1] Ferguson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. [1]
Following the collapse of the Assembly Ferguson became a leading voice in support of the restoration of devolution and in 1988 advocated the adoption by the UUP of a policy in favour of negotiation with constitutional Irish nationalists on both sides of the border. His views were rejected at the annual UUP conference however. [1] The suggestion was labelled a "Lundy-like attack on the leadership" of the party by fellow Fermanagh delegate Sammy Foster. [4]
However Ferguson's moderate views made him popular with the Republic of Ireland's political leaders and he was offered a seat in the Seanad Éireann. He declined the offer due to his opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. [1] Nonetheless his support for cross-community politics continued and in 1992 he publicly criticised colleagues on Fermanagh Council for their refusal to rotate the Council chairmanship with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party. [1]