Conor Terence Murphy ( Irish: Conchúr Ó Murchú; born 10 July 1963) 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 ...

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 ...

politician, who has served as Minister for the Economy since 2024. He is a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

of Northern Ireland for

Newry and Armagh Newry and Armagh can refer to: * Newry and Armagh (Assembly constituency) *Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Mickey Brady o ...

. He served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

from 2005 until 2015.

Early life

Murphy was born in

Camlough Camlough ( ; ) is a village five kilometres west of Newry in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after a lake, known as Cam Lough, in the parish, which is about 90 acres in extent. South of the village is Camlough Mountain (Sli ...

South Armagh South Armagh may refer to: *The southern part of County Armagh * South Armagh (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency) *South Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) *Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional ...

and joined 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) during the

1981 hunger strikes The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Cat ...

. In 1982 he was sentenced to five years in prison for IRA membership and possession of explosives.

Political career

Between 1989 and 1997, he was a Sinn Féin councillor on

Newry and Mourne District Council Newry and Mourne District Council ( ga, Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn) was a local council in Northern Ireland. It merged with Down District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Newry, Mourne a ...

for The Fews area, in South Armagh and South Down, and served as his party's group leader at that level.

Assembly elections

In 1998, Murphy was elected as one of his party's two

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

members for

. He was re-elected, with two party colleagues, to the Assembly in 2003. In 2001, he contested the Newry and Armagh Westminster seat, coming second to incumbent Séamus Mallon of the

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). When Mallon decided not to contest the seat again, Murphy became the clear favourite to win and was elected on 5 May 2005.

Abstentionism and tour of UK party conferences

He refused to take his seat in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

in line with the abstentionist policy of Sinn Féin. In the Northern Ireland Assembly, he served as the Minister for Regional Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 8 May 2007 until 16 May 2011. While on a tour of UK party conferences in autumn 2005, he became the first Irish republican to address the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

conference and caused controversy by refusing to express regret over the Brighton hotel bombing.

Tribunal over appointment of head of Northern Ireland Water

In 2011, while Minister for Regional Development, Murphy appointed Seán Hogan, a Catholic, as head of Northern Ireland Water, turning down the applications of four Protestants on the shortlist. A tribunal subsequently awarded £150,000 damages for discrimination to one of these applicants, Alan Lennon, judging that Hogan was appointed because "he was not from a Protestant background and because he was known to the minister and his (then Sinn Fein) ministerial colleagues

Michelle Gildernew Michelle Gildernew (born 28 March 1970) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, having been re-elected in June 2017 after previously holding t ...

and Caitríona Ruane, who were consulted about the appointment." The tribunal found Murphy's evidence was "implausible and lack ngcredibility", and that, during Murphy's tenure at the Department for Regional Development, there was a "material bias against the appointment of candidates from a Protestant background". Murphy disputed the finding which he said branded him "sectarian". Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

defended him, claiming Murphy doesn't have "a sectarian bone in his body".

Witness in Declan Gormley case

In December 2012, Murphy appeared as a witness at Belfast High Court in the case of Declan Gormley, whom Murphy had sacked in 2010 from his post as a non-executive director of NI Water. Gormley sued Sinn Féin over two press releases which he argued were defamatory. Gormley was subsequently offered £80,000 in damages.

Controversy over comments about Paul Quinn

In 2007, shortly after the

murder of Paul Quinn Paul Quinn ( – 20 October 2007) was a young man from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, who was murdered in 2007. His family subsequently accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) of his murder, though no one has ever been convicted in r ...

, Conor Murphy said in an interview with Spotlight that "Paul Quinn was involved with smuggling and criminality and I think that everyone accepts that." During the

2020 Irish general election The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday 8 February, to elect the 33rd Dáil, the lower house of Ireland's parliament. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the president, at the request of the Ta ...

Conor Murphys' comments were a point of discussion. Breege Quinn said that her son was definitely not involved in criminality and called on Conor Murphy to withdraw his remarks and make a public apology to the Quinn family. On 6 February 2020 Conor Murphy spoke to RTÉ and said that he had withdrawn the remarks he had made in 2007 and apologised to the Quinn family. Breege Quinn repeated her call for him to resign as Minister for Finance at Stormont. She said he "should finish off and get justice" for the Quinn family. She said he should "go and tell the PSNI and the Gardaí exactly who he was speaking to" in the IRA after the murder. She said she would not meet Conor Murphy until he "comes out publicly saying that he is going to the PSNI to give the names of the IRA that he spoke to in

Cullyhanna Cullyhanna () is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village extends further over the townlands of Tullynavall and Freeduff. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census. It is within the Newry and Mourne Distri ...

Personal life

Murphy lives in

with his wife, Catherine, and two children. Murphy attended St Colman's College in Newry, Co Down.

References

External links

Sinn Féin official biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Conor 1963 births Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Irish republicans Irish republicans imprisoned under Prevention of Terrorism Acts Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Newry and Armagh (since 1983) Members of Newry and Mourne District Council Ministers of Finance and Personnel of Northern Ireland Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Politicians from County Armagh Provisional Irish Republican Army members Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin MLAs Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 People from Camlough