MARTINA ANDERSON

'Martina Anderson, MLA' (b. Bogside, Derry, 1962) is a nationalist politician in Northern Ireland, occupies the post of Director of Unionist Engagement for Sinn Féin Sinn Féin Profile and is a former volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).^[1]

Contents

Life

References

External link

Life

Anderson was born in Derry into a large republican family. She has six sisters and three brothers, and one brother, Paul, is currently a Sinn Féin councillor. She was arrested aged 18 leaving a furniture store in Derry, and charged with possession of a firearm and causing an explosion. Anderson was released on bail after spending two months in Armagh Women's Prison, and fled across the border to Buncrana in County Donegal.
She was arrested on 24 June, 1985 at a flat in Glasgow with four other IRA members including Brighton bomber Patrick Magee. On 11 June, 1986 all five were convicted of conspiring to cause explosions in England, although Magee was the only person convicted in relation to the Brighton bombing.^[2][3] In 1989 she married fellow IRA prisoner Paul Kavanagh at Full Sutton Prison near York. In 1994 she was transferred from Durham Prison to Maghaberry Prison in Northern Ireland, and she was released on 10 November, 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and has since renounced violence.^[4][5]
In 2007 Anderson was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Sinn Féin member for Foyle, along with Raymond McCartney.^[6]

References

1. Beyond the Wire
2. Brits, , Peter, Taylor, Bloomsbury Publishing, ,
3. Patrick Magee convicted of IRA terrorist attack Gareth Parry
4. Fury over IRA bomber's Holyrood visit Paul Hutcheon
5. The beauty queen bomber goes free
6. Northern Ireland election

External link

★ Official Sinn Féin biography