Brief
Biography:
Seamus Mallon was born in Markethill, County Armagh and educated at the Abbey Grammar School, Newry and later qualified as a school-teacher after graduating from St. Joseph's Teacher Training College, Belfast. Mallon first became involved politics by way of the civil rights campaign in the 1960s and served as Chairman of the Mid-Armagh Anti-Discrimination Committee (1963-68). Shortly after the formation of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in 1970 he became a member and in 1979 was chosen as its Deputy Leader (1979-2001). In 1973 he was returned to Armagh District Council (1973-89) as well as being elected as one of the party's representative for the constituency of Armagh in the Northern Ireland Assembly (1973-74) and the Constitutional Convention (1975-76). On two occasions, in October 1974 and May 1979, he unsuccessfully contested the Westminster seat of Armagh and in June 1983 failed in his attempt to become MP for the new constituency of Newry and South Armagh.
As deputy leader of the SDLP he was in favour of the approach taken by the party leader, John Hume, that any proposed political solution based within Northern Ireland was unworkable. In particular Mallon was anxious to promote the idea that the Irish government should have a greater say in the administration of Northern Ireland and this attitude led to him suggesting that the SDLP should boycott the elections for the new Northern Ireland Assembly in October 1982. This was based on his belief that not only would the powers devolved to this body be limited but that no effort had been made to encompass a strong Irish dimension. In the end however the party decided to contest this poll and Mallon was subsequently returned as a member of the Assembly for Newry and South Armagh (1982-86). But in line with party policy to boycott this body he did not take his seat. In any case his membership of the Irish Senate, to which he had been appointed in May 1982, was later ruled by an Election Court in December 1982 to make him ineligible to be elected to the Assembly and he was therefore unseated.
In spite of this setback he maintained a high profile as the party's spokesperson on Justice (1979-1998). Furthermore he was one of the SDLP's delegates to the New Ireland Forum in Dublin (1983-84). In January 1986 in a by-election for the Westminster parliament called by Unionists as a means to voice their opposition to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA), Mallon won the Newry and South Armagh seat (1986-present). This success established him fully as one of the leading figures in the SDLP and in his role as an MP he voiced the party's full support for the AIA. His involvement in the inter-party talks during the period 1991 to 1992 saw him re-emphasise his convictions that in any future political settlement for Northern Ireland it was essential that the Irish government should have a substantial executive role. Although his relationship with Hume was often seen as difficult, Mallon supported his party leader during his series of discussions with Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF).
With the emergence of the 'Peace Process' in the 1990s Mallon was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in May 1996 and once the multi-party talks began in September 1997, he acted as chief negotiator for the SDLP. In the wake of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in April 1998 he was returned as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1998-2003) at the elections in June 1998. Following the decision of John Hume to stand aside, Mallon assumed the position of Deputy First Minister (designate) in June 1998. Just over a year later in June 1999 however the slow implementation of the GFA led him to tender his resignation. After further negotiations he returned as Deputy First Minister (1999-2001) once the power-sharing executive proposed under the GFA was finally established in November 1999. He retained this position, notwithstanding a period of suspension of the GFA, until announcing his attention to retire from the post in November 2001. He also declared his intention to resign as Deputy Leader of the SDLP, although for the time being he chose to remain as an MP and a member of the Assembly. Then a few months later Mallon announced that he would not be standing as a candidate for the SDLP in any future Assembly or Westminster elections.
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