Fergus McAteer is an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

and former

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 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The son of Nationalist Party leader

Eddie McAteer Eddie McAteer (25 June 1914 – 25 March 1986) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland. Born in Coatbridge, Scotland, McAteer's family moved to Derry in Northern Ireland while he was young. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenu ...

, Fergus was active in the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. He was arrested during the events of

Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...

and charged with throwing stones, but the charges were later dropped. McAteer always strongly denied these claims. McAteer himself became prominent in the Nationalist Party. In 1973, he was elected to

Derry City Council Derry City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Dhoire; Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie Cooncil'') was the local government authority for the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It merged with Strabane District Council in April 2015 under local governm ...

, and he was re-elected in 1977. In October 1977 he merged the Nationalist Party with

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

to form the

Irish Independence Party The Irish Independence Party (IIP) was a nationalist political party in Northern Ireland, founded in October 1977 p. 135. by Frank McManus (former Unity MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone between 1970 and 1974) and Fergus McAteer (son of Eddie Mc ...

(IIP), becoming joint chair with former Unity leader Frank McManus. He stood for the party in Londonderry at the 1979 general election, but could take only fourth place in the poll. He held his seat on the City Council in 1981, with an increased vote. McAteer narrowly held the seat in 1985 and the IIP overall saw their representation on local councils reduced from 21 members in 1981 to 4 members in 1985 and dissolved before the next local election, and McAteer did not restand in 1989. McAteer started an accountancy firm in 1973, and continued to run the firm as of 2007.Fergus McAteer & Co

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAteer, Fergus Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Accountants from Northern Ireland Councillors in Derry (city) Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland