Martin J. Galvin (born January 8, 1950) is an Irish American lawyer, publisher and activist, and former director of

NORAID NORAID, officially the Irish Northern Aid Committee, is an Irish American membership organization founded after the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1969. The organization states its mission is to aid in the creation of a United Ire ...

Background

Galvin was born on January 8, 1950, the son of a fireman. He attended Catholic schools, Fordham University and

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

. He previously worked as hearing officer for the

New York City Department of Sanitation The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for garbage collection, recycling collection, street cleaning, and snow removal. The DSNY motto "New York's Strongest" was coined ...

. Galvin and his wife, Carmel (born 1956), have a son, Martin, Jr.

Political activism

Galvin was the publicity director for the New York-based

, an Irish American group fundraising organization which raised money for the families of Irish republican prisoners, but was also accused by the American, British, and Irish governments to be a front for the supply of weapons to the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

. Galvin became a publisher of '' The Irish People'' in the 1980s. He was banned 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 ...

because of a speech he gave that seemed to endorse terrorism. In August 1984 he defied the ban, and entered Northern Ireland from the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. The following year Galvin returned to Northern Ireland to attend a funeral for an IRA member killed when a makeshift grenade launcher he was trying to fire at a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks exploded. In 1989 Galvin was arrested and deported for violating the exclusion ban yet again. Galvin has criticised the

Northern Ireland peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developm ...

as a betrayal of republican ideals, and characterized IRA's decision to open up its arms dumps to

Independent International Commission on Decommissioning The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) was established to oversee the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons in Northern Ireland, as part of the peace process. Legislation and organisation An earlier international b ...

inspectors as a surrender. On 28 May 2016, he attended a commemoration for PIRA volunteer George McBrearty in Creggan.

References

External links

A Chronology of the Conflict - 1984
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galvin, Martin 1950 births Living people American political activists American people of Irish descent Fordham University alumni Irish republicans New York (state) lawyers People from the Bronx Activists from New York (state)