Mark Durkan

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Person.png Mark Durkan   WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(politician)
BornJohn Mark Durkan
26 June 1960
Derry, Northern Ireland
Alma materQueen's University Belfast, University of Ulster
Children1
SpouseJackie Durkan
Member ofBritish-American Project, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/1999
PartySDLP
WEF NI politician who voted to support mandatory Covid certification

Employment.png Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland

In office
6 November 2001 - 14 October 2002

Employment.png Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party

In office
6 November 2001 - 7 February 2010
Preceded byJohn Hume

Employment.png Member of Parliament for Foyle

In office
5 May 2005 - 3 May 2017

Mark Henry Durkan is a nationalist politician in Northern Ireland and the former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). He voted to support mandatory Covid-19 certification.[1]

Background

Durkan's father was an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) District Inspector in Armagh who died before his son's first birthday [2]. He was educated at St. Patrick's Primary School and at St. Columb's College in Derry[3].

He studied politics at the Queen's University of Belfast and later did a part-time Bachelor of Arts course in Public Policy Management with the University of Ulster at Magee. While at QUB Durkan served as Deputy President of Queen's Students' Union from 1982-1983. He was also elected Deputy President of the Union of Students in Ireland from 1982-1984 [4] .

Politics

He became involved in politics in 1981 when he became a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. In 1984 he went to work for John Hume as his Westminster Assistant. He became a key figure in organising by-election campaigns for the Seamus Mallon and Eddie McGrady in the 1980s [5].

Durkan's considerable strategic skills were honed by the American-based National Endowment for Democracy, a group which assisted the SDLP in professional electioneering from 1986.[6]

In 1990 Durkan became chairperson of the SDLP, a position he was in until 1995[7]. He was a key member of the party's negotiating team in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement [8].

Following the Agreement Durkan was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, and became a member of the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister for Finance and Personnel[9].

He was in that position until 2001 when he replaced Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister[10]. He was also elected Leader of the SDLP in that year. Durkan was re-elected to the Assembly in the election of November 2003. However, the Assembly and the Executive remained suspended until 8 May 2007[11].

In the 2005 general election he retained the Foyle seat at Westminster for the SDLP with a sizeable majority, despite a strong effort by Sinn Féin to take the seat. Durkan won 21,119 votes [12]

He lost his seat at the UK/2017 General Election.[13]


 

Event Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/200421 January 200425 January 2004Switzerland2068 billionaires, CEOs and their politicians and "civil society" leaders met under the slogan Partnering for Prosperity and Security. "We have the people who matter," said World Economic Forum Co-Chief Executive Officer José María Figueres.
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References

  1. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus/ni-assembly-backs-mandatory-covid-certification-laws-how-did-your-mla-vote-41148779.html
  2. BBC News, 1 February 2007, Northern Ireland Mark Durkan Martina Purdy
  3. Northern Ireland Assemby Mark Durkan
  4. SDLP 2007 Mark Durkan MP
  5. Northern Ireland Assemby 2003 Mark Durkan
  6. Hume leaves it too late, Maol Muire Tynan, Sunday Business Post, 23 September 2001.
  7. Northern Ireland Assemby 2003 Mark Durkan
  8. BBC News, 1 February 2007, Northern Ireland Mark Durkan Martina Purdy
  9. Northern Ireland Assemby 2003 Mark Durkan
  10. BBC News, 1 February 2007, Northern Ireland Mark Durkan Martina Purdy
  11. Northern Irish Assemby 2007Homepage
  12. BBC News; Election 2005; 6 May, 2005 SDLP's Durkan wins seat in Foyle
  13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-40214591