Patsy Groogan

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{Use Irish English|date=March 2017}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Patsy Groogan

| office = Member of
Magherafelt District Council

| constituency = Sperrin

| term_start = 19 May 1993

| term_end = 5 May 2011

| predecessor = Bernard O'Hagan

| successor = Brian McGuigan

| office1 = Northern Ireland Forum Member
for Mid Ulster

| term_start1 = 30 May 1996

| term_end1 = 25 April 1998

| predecessor1 = New forum

| successor1 = Forum dissolved

| birth_date =

| birth_place = Ballinascreen, Northern Ireland

| death_date =

| party = Independent Republican (since 2006)

| otherparty = Sinn Féin (until 2006)

}}

Patrick "Patsy" Groogan is an Irish republican politician.

Background

Based in Ballinascreen, Groogan became a sports coach with a particular involvement in hurling. He became prominent in his local Gaelic Athletic Association, and joined Sinn Féin. In 1991, Bernard O'Hagan, a Sinn Féin councillor for the Sperrin area of the Magherafelt District Council, was assassinated, and Groogan was appointed as his replacement."[http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/5312 Groogan elected Chair of Magherafelt District Council]", An Phoblacht, 17 June 2004

Groogan held the Sperrin seat, heading the poll in each council election from 1993 to 2005.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgmagherafelt.htm Magherafelt District Council Elections 1993-2005], Northern Ireland Elections He became the first Sinn Féin Chairperson of Magherafelt District Council, and served a second term starting in 2004. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in Mid Ulster, but he did not stand in the subsequent 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/amu.htm Newry and Armagh], Northern Ireland Elections

In 2006, Groogan resigned from Sinn Féin, along with Oliver Hughes, but continued to sit on the council as an independent. Hughes described their resignations as "purely a domestic issue", but the Sunday Times speculated that they may have been in protest at a lack of internal party democracy.Liam Clarke, [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article648919.ece "Key members quit Sinn Fein over controls"]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Sunday Times, 24 September 2006.

References