Gerry McHugh (born 9 October 1957) is a republican politician in

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 ...

. He represented

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 ...

Fermanagh District Council Fermanagh District Council was a local council in Northern Ireland. It was created out of Fermanagh County Council and later merged with Omagh District Council in April 2015 under local government reorganisation to become Fermanagh and Omagh Di ...

from 1993 to 2007 sat as an independent since then. He was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

in 1996, then to the

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 ...

at the 1998 election as a Sinn Féin member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. He lost his seat in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, but regained it in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. His fellow Sinn Féin member on both occasions was

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 ...

. McHugh is a past pupil of St Comhghall's Secondary School in

Lisnaskea Lisnaskea () is the second-biggest settlement in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is situated mainly in the townland of Lisoneill, with some areas in the townland of Castle Balfour Demesne, both in the civil parish of Aghalurcher and the ...

. He became an independent on 29 November 2007, citing his perceived problems with lack of democracy in his former party. On 30 November 2009, he announced that he was a member of

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

. He did not contest the 2011 Assembly election, and lost his District Council seat in the 2011 local elections. On 2 February 2019 ''

The Impartial Reporter The ''Impartial Reporter'' is a newspaper based in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland which is circulated in Fermanagh, South Tyrone and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland. It is the 3rd-oldest newspaper in Ireland, an ...

'' reported that McHugh had 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

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

nationalist party founded by

Peadar Tóibín Peadar Tóibín (; born 19 June 1974) is an Irish politician who has served as Leader of Aontú since January 2019. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath West constituency since 2011. He previously served as Chair of the Committee on ...

. In the May 2019 local election, he was the party's candidate stood in the six-seat Erne East

District Electoral Area The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distr ...

for

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Fermanagh and Omagh District Council ( ga, Comhairle Ceantair Fhear Manach agus na hÓmaí; Ulster-Scots: ''Districk Cooncil o Fermanagh an Omey'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland and was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Ferman ...

, finishing last of ten candidates.

References

External links

NIA profile
1957 births Living people Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Sinn Féin MLAs Independent members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Fianna Fáil politicians People educated at St Comhghall's Secondary School Aontú politicians Members of Fermanagh District Council Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates {{SinnFéin-politician-stub