Conall McDevitt (born 1972 in Dublin) is an
Irish nationalist, and former member of the SDLP.
[Agend NI]
"Transparency the McDevitt Case"
Agenda NI, Retrieved 7 February 2017 He also served as the
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) spokesman on Health, Social Services and Public safety and Policing,
and was appointed to the Policing Board in May 2011.
McDevitt became the National Secretary of
Labour Youth (
Ireland) in 1993 and Vice President of
ECOSY (European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth) in 1994.
He became the SDLP Director of Communications in November 1996 until December 1999, a time that included the negotiations leading to the
Good Friday Agreement and first Assembly elections.
He left the SDLP to work as customer relations manager of
Viridian Group
Energia Group (formerly Viridian Group) is an Irish energy company with interests across the island of Ireland. From a consumer perspective, Energia Group organises itself into two main groups: Power NI and Energia.
Businesses
Energia Group's st ...
PLC, then owners of
Northern Ireland Electricity.
Following the establishment of the power-sharing
Northern Ireland Executive, McDevitt served as Special Adviser to the
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Bríd Rodgers. He was involved in the attempts to resolve the
Drumcree conflict and advised Rodgers during the
2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and ...
.
He was selected as the SDLP MLA for
South Belfast Belfast South can refer to:
*The southern part of Belfast
* Belfast South (Assembly constituency)
*Belfast South (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)
Belfast South was a borough constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 192 ...
on 9 December 2009 and succeeded
Carmel Hanna
Carmel Hanna MLA (née McAleenan; 26 April 1946, in Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland) is an Irish politician. She is a member of the SDLP and was MLA for South Belfast from 1998 to 2010.
Early life and nursing career
Born as Carmel ...
in 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 ...
in early 2010.
On 17 May 2012, McDevitt launched a consultation seeking views on a reduction in speed limits from 30 mph to 20 mph on designated unclassified roads.
McDevitt said the SDLP was "100%" behind moves to permit same-sex marriage, but caused controversy by saying two veteran councillors would be disciplined over their opposition to it.
In September 2013 he resigned from the Assembly after the revelation of three undeclared payments, amounting to £50,750 made up of £30,000
to JM Consulting for research support for his work as a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, £14,000 to JM Consulting for research and secretarial services for his work as an MLA and £6,750 from his previous employer Weber Shandwick while sitting as an MLA. JM Consulting was owned at that time by McDevitt's wife Joanne Murphy.
Three months after his resignation he joined the Irish lobbying firm Hume Brophy.
"Hume Brophy Hires Politician who quit over Weber Shandwick Payments"
PR Week, Retrieved 7 February 2017
Personal life
Born in Dublin, Ireland, but brought up in Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...
, Andalusia, Spain, McDevitt was educated at the Instituto Bachillerato Mixto, Fuengirola
Fuengirola (), in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the pr ...
.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDevitt, Conall
1972 births
Living people
Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs
Politicians from Dublin (city)
Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011
Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016