Unity (Northern Ireland)

{{Short description|Electoral pacts in Northern Ireland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

"Unity" was the political label for a series of electoral pacts by Irish nationalist, Irish republican and socialist candidates in Northern Ireland elections in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It also contested elections as a party in its own right, electing six councillors in the 1973 local council elections in the Fermanagh and Dungannon areas,{{Cite web |title=Local Government Elections 1973 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg73.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk}} although this was reduced to two members of Fermanagh council in the next election in 1977.{{Cite web |title=Local Government Elections 1973 - 1981: Fermanagh |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/73-81lgfermanagh.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk}}

The first victory came in 1969 in the Mid Ulster by-election which was won by 21-year old student Bernadette Devlin.{{Cite web |title=Bernadette Devlin Wins Election |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1042-northern-ireland-1969/1044-bernadette-devlin/320211-bernadette-wins-election/ |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=RTÉ Archives |language=en}} She held her seat in the 1970 general election,{{Cite web |title=1970 Westminster Elections |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fw70.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk}} when Fermanagh and South Tyrone was won by her colleague Frank McManus.{{Cite web |title=Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1950-1970 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/dfst.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk}} Both lost their seats in the February 1974 general election.{{Cite news |date=1974-03-01 |title=Hard‐Line Protestants Win 11 of the 12 Northern Ireland Seats |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/02/archives/hardline-protestants-win-11-of-the-12-northern-ireland-seats.html |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=The New York Times |pages=10 |language=en-US |publication-date=1974-03-02 |issn=0362-4331}} Bernadette would later go on to join the IRSP. {{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Kitty |date=2016-11-22 |title=Bernadette McAliskey: ‘I am astounded I survived. I made mad decisions’ |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/bernadette-mcaliskey-i-am-astounded-i-survived-i-made-mad-decisions-1.2798293 |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=The Irish Times |language=en}}

In the October 1974 general election the spirit of Unity was revived, if not the name, when Frank Maguire won Fermanagh and South Tyrone as an agreed independent Republican.{{Cite web |title=Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1973-1982 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/cfst.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk |quote=Westminster Election, 10 October 1974 (one seat). Frank Maguire (Independent) 32,795 (51.8%)}} He held the seat until his death in 1981.{{Cite news |last= |date=1981-03-06 |title=Frank Maguire, Ulster M.P., Dies; Helped Defeat Callaghan in 1979 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/06/obituaries/frank-maguire-ulster-mp-dies-helped-defeat-callaghan-in-1979.html |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=The New York Times |pages=16 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In 1978 Unity merged with the remnants of the Nationalist Party to form the Irish Independence Party.{{Cite web |title=Local Government Elections 1981 |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/flg81.htm |access-date=2024-02-03 |website=www.ark.ac.uk |quote=On the Nationalist side, the Irish Independence Party emerged from the remnants of the old Nationalist Party and the Unity movement.}}