Brief
Biography:
Alex Maskey was educated at St Malachy's College, and Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education before going to work as a labourer in Belfast docks. Following the outbreak of civil unrest in Northern Ireland after 1969, Maskey became involved in Republican activities and was interned on two occasions. In 1983 he became the first Sinn Féin (SF) councillor elected to Belfast City Council (1983-present). As a close ally of Gerry Adams, then President of SF, he actively supported the moves to develop the Republican movement's electoral mandate. In May 1996 Maskey was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for the constituency of West Belfast (1996-98) and was subsequently a member of the SF delegation at the all-party talks that were to produce the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in April 1998. Following the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 1998, Maskey was again returned for West Belfast and became Party Whip in the new body (1998-2003). In June 2002 he again made history when he was successfully nominated as the first SF member to hold the office of Lord Mayor of Belfast (2002-2003). At the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in November 2003 Maskey was returned as a member for the constituency of South Belfast (2003-present).
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