Kieran Deeny (born 12 October 1954) is a

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

turned politician from

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 ...

. Deeny was a Designated Other

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of 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 ...

for West Tyrone (MLA) from 2003 to 2011, having run on a single issue ticket of retaining the

Tyrone County Hospital Tyrone County Hospital ( ga, Otharlann Chontae Thír Eoghain) was a hospital and the main health facility in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The hospital occupied the same site in the town from 1899 until it closed to new patients on 20 ...

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

Early life

Deeny was born in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

where he attended St. Patrick's Boy's Primary School and then St Patrick's Grammar School. During this time he regularly participated in several sports, representing Ulster Schools at

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, representing Down in the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

and playing

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 ...

in both the Irish League and

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

in the early 1970s. He studied at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

and worked as a general practitioner in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

from the mid-1980s onwards. From 2000 he also served as Chairman of Omagh and District G.P. Association and took a prominent role in the campaign to keep full medical provision at the

Political career

In the 2003 Northern Ireland assembly elections Deeny ran as an independent candidate in West Tyrone on the sole issue of retaining the hospital and generated one of the biggest shocks of that election when he topped the poll and took a seat from 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 ...

. However, the continued suspension of the Assembly meant that Deeny was not able to directly influence decisions about the future of the hospital. In the 2005 general election Deeny stood for the Westminster seat, campaigning heavily against sitting MP Pat Doherty's abstentionism and arguing that this denied the seat a voice, and received a lot of backing from many activists and supporters of both Nationalist and Unionist political parties, though all the major parties ran candidates. Deeny received over 11,000 votes and placed second in the election to Pat Doherty. In the 2007 Assembly elections Deeny was elected on the seventh count with 3,776 first preference votes. His campaign was again largely based on a single issue – the impending closure of the Sion Mills branch surgery. He sat with the Alliance Party and the Green Party's

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

as " United Community MLA's". On 16 May 2007, Deeny changed his status as an Independent to become

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

and a member of the Independent Health Coalition in the Assembly. Kieran was a member of the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee in the Assembly. He did not contest the 2011 Assembly election.

References

External links

Archive of 2005 general election campaign site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deeny, Kieran 1954 births Living people League of Ireland players People from Downpatrick General practitioners from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Independent members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Association footballers not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality

Early life

Political career

See also

References

External links