The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC), is the youth wing of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the I ...

(UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004.

History

Attempts had been made in the 1920s to create a youth movement linked to that of the Conservative Party (the Junior Imperial and Constitutional League) without much success. A second attempt was made before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, which also failed. The UYUC was formed by the Standing Committee of the Ulster Unionist Council in 1946 and quickly became a successful movement in South & West Belfast,

Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of al ...

and Down.Faulkner, Brian, Memoirs of a Statesman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1978 The body's first Chairman was future

Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as with governors- ...

Brian Faulkner Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the chief executive ...

In 1959,

Brian Maginess William Brian Maginess, QC (10 July 1901 – 16 April 1967), was a member of the Government of Northern Ireland, who was widely seen as a possible successor to The 1st Viscount Brookeborough as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Life He was ...

, Q.C., and Sir Clarence Graham, Bt., spoke to the Young Unionists advocating an increase in Roman Catholic membership of the UUP. This was regarded as controversial at the time. The body created many prominent figures in Northern Ireland politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s such as Bill Craig and John D. Taylor; however, disagreements over Government policy and other factors left the body in disarray by the early 1970s, and it disbanded following the collapse of the

Stormont Parliament The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

. The body re-emerged under the Chairmanship of David McNarry and continued to thrive throughout the 1980s, producing figures such as

Edgar Graham Edgar Samuel David Graham, MPA, BL (1954 – 7 December 1983), was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and academic from Northern Ireland. He was regarded as a rising star of both legal studies and Unionism, and a possible future leader ...

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and lead ...

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...

and

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2017 and from 2020 to 2021 and ...

with the latter 3 defecting to the DUP.

1990s to present

The body's membership was strongly opposed to the

Belfast Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in N ...

in 1998, and many campaigned against it. At the 2004 AGM the officers voted to disband the group. A new organisation was reconstituted later that year and has since enjoyed a period of sustained growth. The UYUC has branches at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

and branches at constituency level in th
City of Belfast
Mid-Ulster/West Tyrone, Lagan Valley and also Newry and Armagh/South Down, as well as Fermanagh & South Tyrone. The youth wing has produced many current and former senior faces in the party including The Lord Laird, The Lord Rogan,

MP MLA and David McNarry, all of whom are former Chairmen, as well as

Lord Empey Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey, (born 26 October 1947), best known as Reg Empey, is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland, who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the ...

, who served as Vice Chairman.

Current activities

In recent years the Young Unionists have continued to function as an active political youth wing. In the 2014 local government elections 11 members of the Young Unionists were returned as councillors. This represents over 10% of the UUP's total councillors. The Young Unionists host a number of events on an annual basis including a summer debate series and conference.

2022 Officers

*Chairman: Mr. Ben Sharkey *Hon. Secretary: Miss Kellie Cowan *Hon. Treasurer: Mr. Nathan Redmond *Senior Vice-Chairman: Cllr. Matthew Bell *Vice-Chairman (International): Miss Olivia Swan *Public Relations Officer: Miss Alana Cahoon *Events Organiser: Mr. Adam Aicken *Membership Secretary: Mr. Josh Lowry *Universities Officer: Mr. Jay Buntin

Chairpersons

Second UYUC *1998 & 1999: Peter King *2002 & 2003: Cllr. Peter Brown Current UYUC *2004: Mr. Kenny Donaldson *2005: Cllr. Peter Bowles *2006 & 2007: Cllr. Mark Dunn *2008: Mr. Peter Munce (January 2008 - October 2008) *2008 & 2009: Mr. Michael Shilliday *2010 & 2011: Mr. Alasdair O'Hara *2012 & 2013: Mr. Frank Geddis *2014: Cllr. Alexander Redpath *2015: Ms. Cathy Corbett *2016 & 2017: Cllr. Alexander Redpath *2018 & 2019: Mr. Joshua Lowry *2020 & 2021: Cllr. Stuart Hughes *2022 : Mr. Ben Sharkey

References

Sources

*'The Ulster Unionist Party, 1882–1973 : its development and organisation' (1973), J F Harbinson *'A history of the Ulster Unionist Party : protest, pragmatism and pessimism' (2004) Graham Walker *'The Ulster Unionist Party 1972–92 (A Political Movement in an Era of Conflict and Change)' (1996), Dr David Hume

External links

Website
{{Youth wings of Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists member parties Youth wings of political parties in Ireland Youth wings of political parties in Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party Youth wings of Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe member parties