McGuinness, Martin

(1950– )

   An Irish republican, McGuinness had an early association with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and was second-in-command of the Provisional IRA at the time of Bloody Sunday. He was involved in negotiations on its behalf with the British Government in 1972. He later became increasingly prominent in the Sinn Féin Party, adopting the political route to the achievement of his political aims. He was elected as Sinn Féin Member of Parliament for Mid- Ulster in 1997 but like his party colleagues, he has refused to take his seat at Westminster. He became the party’s chief negotiator in the period leading to the Good Friday Agreement and was elected as a member of the currently suspended Northern Ireland Assembly established under its terms. He served as Minister for Education in the Northern Ireland Executive between 1999 and 2002. Since the restoration of the Stormont administration in May 2007, he has served as Deputy First Minister in the power-sharing government.

   A controversial figure, he has for many years been portrayed by leading unionists as a key figure in the IRA. His accusers doubt his claims to have forsaken his old allegiance, but his achievement (working alongside Gerry Adams) in driving the current political strategy of his party to acceptance of devolution and attaining political office is a measure of his influence and importance in the republican movement.