Chris Hudson (trade Unionist)

Christopher Hudson is an Irish former trade union activist who subsequently became a Unitarian minister in Northern Ireland. During the final years of the Troubles Hudson became prominent as a negotiator between the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Irish government and played a key role helping to deliver the Northern Ireland peace process.

Early life

Hudson was born in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland into a Catholic family with a strong Irish republican tradition. His father was a member of the original Irish Republican Army and an associate of Éamon de Valera, becoming a founder member of his political party Fianna Fáil.Taylor, p. 220 His mother originally came from Belfast but her parents fled their Ormeau Road home in 1922 after receiving death threats from loyalists, moving to Dublin. Their marriage had been mixed-faith, something frowned upon at the time in Belfast.Moloney, p. 429

Hudson's uncle was executed by the Irish Free State government during the Irish Civil War for his activity with the IRA and later a road in his native Dún Laoghaire was named in his honour.

Hudson played in a band, the Chosen Few, with Fran O'Toole, who also played in the Miami Showband. O'Toole was subsequently killed in 1975 by the Mid-Ulster UVF as part of the Miami Showband killings. He also worked as a hairdresser, a writer and in amateur theatre before following a career in the Irish post office.Unconventional Reverend challenges narrow dogma
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Activism

Married to Dr Isabella Evangelisti, an art historian, Hudson became a prominent figure with the Communication Workers Union.

He also became prominent in the Peace Train Organisation, a group campaigned against bomb attacks on the Dublin to Belfast railway line. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by the UK government for his role in this group. His work with the Peace Train movement brought him into contact with several figures on both sides of the border, and he was close to Ulster Unionist Party activists Michael and Chris McGimpsey as well as Fergus Finlay, a figure in the Irish Labour Party.

UVF negotiations

On 29 March 1993 several community activists from the Shankill Road, who were also secretly members of the UVF, attended a discussion about cross-community class co-operation in Northern Ireland hosted by Republican Sinn Féin in Dublin. Following the meeting Hudson, who had long held a desire to engage with working class Protestants, met some of the UVF members in a bar.Cusack & MacDonald, p. 291 In the pub Hudson told the UVF members that he abhorred the killings that had just taken place at a Belfast bookmakers – an attack actually carried out by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) – and in response they asked him if he would like to put his objections directly to the UVF leadership. Hudson agreed to hold a meeting.

Soon after this meeting Hudson was invited to visit Belfast by David Ervine, a leading figure in the UVF's political wing the Progressive Unionist Party. Hudson travelled to Belfast on 9 June 1993 and met Ervine in Duke's Hotel in the south of the city. The two then travelled to the Shankill where Hudson held a meeting with the head of the UVF and his second-in-command, known as "The Craftsman".Cusack & MacDonald, p. 292Taylor, p.221 The meeting, which was held in the offices of the Shankill Historical Society, was fraught and saw the UVF leadership make direct threats to Hudson to bomb Dublin. He would subsequently describe this early meeting as difficult, although he added that he trusted Ervine as an individual from the start. Following the meeting Hudson informed Fergus Finlay about this new line of contact and when he met the UVF leadership again in November 1993 he carried messages between the two parties.

Hudson's meetings were controversial as they came at a time of comparatively high activity for the UVF. Between his first and second meetings with the leadership the UVF killed six people, five Catholic civilians and a prison officer. Nonetheless, he continued to keep in contact with the UVF and passed information between them and Finlay.Cusack & MacDonald, p. 299 At the time Finlay was working directly under Dick Spring and he too was aware of the meetings, advising Finlay about the contents of his communications whilst ensuring that the Irish government maintained a policy of no direct negotiations with any paramilitary groups without ceasefire.

Hudson continued to liaise closely with Ervine throughout late 1993 and early 1994. Again however the UVF campaign of violence increased, with a series of letter and parcel bomb attacks launched on both sides of the border in early 1994. Hudson's phone conversations with the UVF leadership became increasingly tense as they continued to make threats to attack Dublin.

Immediately after the Loughinisland massacre Hudson told Ervine in a phone call that he wanted to break off contact with the UVF, although he was convinced otherwise.Taylor, p. 230 A face to face meeting Hudson held with the UVF leadership a few days after Loughinisland was especially tense, with several threats made against Ireland, including a claim that the UVF would kill an American tourist in Dublin as a headline grabber.

On 31 August 1994 the Provisional IRA (PIRA) announced a ceasefire and three days later Hudson again visited Belfast to meet Ervine and Gusty Spence

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