Francis Brolly (13 January 1938 – 6 February 2020) was an Irish musician, teacher and

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 ...

politician from

Dungiven Dungiven () is a small town, townland and civil parish in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is near the main A6 Belfast to Derry road, which bypasses the town. It lies where the rivers Roe, Owenreagh and Owenbeg meet at the foot of the B ...

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 ...

. Brolly was a

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 ...

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 2003 to 2010, when he stood down. His wife,

Anne Brolly Anne Brolly is an Irish Aontú and former Sinn Féin politician and councillor who served on Limavady Borough Council in Northern Ireland. She was the wife of MLA Francie Brolly, till he died in 2020, and together they formed a singing duo and w ...

was the first Sinn Féin mayor and the first female Mayor of

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...

between 2003 and 2004, the council to which she was elected in 2001. In 2005, he was arrested by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and questioned about a bombing incident in the village of Claudy in 1972. An official complaint was lodged with the Police Ombudsman regarding the lawfulness of the arrest and this investigation was ongoing. Brolly initiated a legal action in relation to the arrest, against the PSNI but he did not proceed with the matter. The case was 'stayed', which means Francie Brolly didn't pursue the matter and there was no out of court settlement, agreement, acceptance of liability or payment of compensation by the police. In February 2018, Brolly left the Sinn Féin Party over its support for abortion. In March 2018 he and his wife joined

Aontú Aontú (; "Unite") is an all-Ireland political party that was formally launched in January 2019, and operates in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ideologically, Aontú is opposed to abortion and combines elements of social con ...

, a new anti-abortion republican party founded by former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín.

Interests

Brolly was an Irish culture enthusiast. A lyricist and musician, he wrote many well-known Irish republican songs, most famously The H-Block Song. His daughter, Nodlaig, is also a well-known singer and Celtic harpist. He served as the Assembly spokesperson for

on Culture, Arts and Leisure, sitting on that department's oversight committee. He was also an

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

enthusiast and a fluent speaker of the language.Sinn Féin Assembly members
/ref> He was a long-standing member of the GAA and played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for the Derry county team. He was an Executive Committee Member of St Canice's GAC Dungiven. His son

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

was part of Derry's 1993 All-Ireland Championship winning side and won two All Stars.

Death

Francie Brolly died on 6 February 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brolly, Francie 1947 births 2020 deaths Derry inter-county Gaelic footballers Dungiven Gaelic footballers Gaelic games club administrators Irish anti-abortion activists Irish language activists Irish folk singers Irish male singers Irish sportsperson-politicians Musicians from County Londonderry Northern Ireland MLAs 2003-2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 People educated at St Columb's College People from Dungiven Politicians from County Londonderry Place of death missing Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin MLAs Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates Aontú politicians