Billy Leonard (born 13 January 1955) is an

Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...

retired

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who was a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

(MLA) for

East Londonderry East Londonderry or East Derry can refer to: * The eastern part of County Londonderry * The eastern part of the city of Derry * East Londonderry (Assembly constituency) * East Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency) East Londonderry is a par ...

from 2010 to 2011. A former

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) officeholder, he then joined

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

, but is now an Independent Republican. Born in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

to a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

family,SDLP man defects to Sinn Fein
, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'', 19 January 2004 Leonard is a former member of both the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

reserve and the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...

. He was also a

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

lay preacher. His wife, Valerie, is a Roman Catholic from the Kilwilkie republican estate in Lurgan, and their children were raised in her faith.

Career

In 2001, Leonard was elected in the Skerries area of

Coleraine Borough Council Coleraine Borough Council was a local council mainly in County Londonderry and partly in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. It merged with Ballymoney Borough Council, Limavady Borough Council and Moyle District Council in May 2015 under local g ...

as a representative of the SDLP, having joined them while studying political science at the University of Ulster,Coleraine Borough Council Elections 1993–2005
/ref> but left in 2004 to join

. He cited the SDLP's lack of emphasis on Irish unity for his departure from the party. He was the first Sinn Féin member of the council, and was re-elected in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

in the Bann area. He stood unsuccessfully for the party in

at the 2005 general election, and in the constituency of the same name at the

2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two l ...

. Leonard was nominated by Sinn Féin to succeed

Francie Brolly Francis Brolly (13 January 1938 – 6 February 2020) was an Irish musician, teacher and Irish republican politician from Dungiven, Northern Ireland. Brolly was a Sinn Féin Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry from ...

on the latter's resignation as the Sinn Féin MLA for East Londonderry, and took office on 7 January 2010. In November 2010 it was announced that Leonard would not contest the 2011 Assembly election, so that he could devote his time to writing a book, ''Towards a United Ireland – an uncompleted journey''. Leonard stated that disagreements "over support arrangements for MLAs' wages and expenses" were the reason for his decision to leave Sinn Féin in 2011. A 2012 interview published in the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'' quoted Leonard as saying that the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

(IRA) still have a big say in the running of Sinn Féin. "The tentacles of the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

still run throughout it", he said and stated that former republican prisoners still dominate the structures of the party."IRA still have a big say in Sinn Fein says ex MLA and RUC man"
belfasttelegraph.co.uk, 21 June 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Billy 1955 births Irish republicans Living people Members of Coleraine Borough Council Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 People from Lurgan Protestant Irish nationalists Royal Ulster Constabulary officers Sinn Féin MLAs Social Democratic and Labour Party councillors Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates Police officers from County Armagh