Joe Gaston

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Joe Gaston

|office = Member of Ballymoney Borough Council

|constituency = Bann Valley

|term_start = 15 May 1985

|term_end = 5 May 2005

|predecessor = District created

|successor = Daithí McKay

|constituency1 = Ballymoney Area B

|term_start1 = 30 May 1973

|term_end1 = 15 May 1985

|predecessor1 = District created

|successor1 = District abolished

| office2 = Member of the Northern Ireland Forum
for North Antrim

| term_start2 = 30 May 1996

| term_end2 = 25 April 1998

|office3 = Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for
North Antrim

|term_start3 = 1982

|term_end3 = 1986

|birth_date = 1926/ 1927

|birth_place =

|death_date = 15 March 2018

|party = Ulster Unionist Party (from 1977)

|otherparty = Independent Unionist (1973 - 1977)

}}

Joe Gaston (1926 or 1927 – 15 March 2018{{cite news |title=Joe Gaston, UUP man who survived IRA bomb, 'one of great stalwarts' |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/joe-gaston-uup-man-who-survived-ira-bomb-one-great-stalwarts-322267 |access-date=29 January 2021 |work=News Letter |date=15 March 2018}}) was a Northern Irish unionist politician.

Background

Gaston worked as a farmer and served part-time in the Ulster Defence Regiment.Suzanne Breen, "[http://saoirse32.blogsome.com/2006/05/31/the-forgotten-victims-of-the-troubles/ The forgotten victims of the Troubles]", Sunday Tribune, May 2006 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704134736/http://saoirse32.blogsome.com/2006/05/31/the-forgotten-victims-of-the-troubles/ |date=4 July 2008 }} In 1973, he was elected to Ballymoney Borough Council as a non-party candidate. He was re-elected in 1977, for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/73-81lgballymoney.htm The Local Government Elections 1973–1981: Ballymoney], Northern Ireland Elections

In December 1977, Gaston's right leg was removed by a bomb planted in his tractor by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.{{Cite web |url=http://www2.belfasttoday.net/orange/orange03.pdf |title=Belfast Today |access-date=4 March 2011 |archive-date=22 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722003345/http://www2.belfasttoday.net/orange/orange03.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Gaston was elected at the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election in North Antrim.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cna.htm North Antrim 1973–1982] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220063026/https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cna.htm |date=20 February 2019 }}, Northern Ireland Elections In 1985, he served as deputy mayor of Ballymoney, then as mayor from 1986 to 1987 and from 1990 to 1993.

At the 1992 general election, Gaston contested Ian Paisley's North Antrim seat, taking second place with 18.1% of the votes cast.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/bna.htm North Antrim, 1983–1992], Northern Ireland Elections In 1996, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, again in North Antrim,[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/ana.htm North Antrim], Northern Ireland Elections and served his final term as Mayor of Ballymoney.

Gaston lost his council seat to Sinn Féin's Daithi McKay in 2005.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgballymoney.htm Ballymoney Borough Council Elections 1993–2005], Northern Ireland Elections