Editing Austin Currie (section)

==Political career==
===Northern Ireland===
Currie became an active member in the [[Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association]]. He would later speak about the effect of [[Partition of Ireland|partition]] on Catholics in Northern Ireland: "Partition was used to try to cut us off from the rest of the Irish nation. [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionists]] did their best to stamp out our [[Irish nationalism|nationalism]] and, the educational system, to the extent it could organise it, was oriented to Britain and we were not even allowed to use names such as Séamus or Seán. When my brothers' godparents went to register their birth, they were told no such names as Séamus or Seán existed in Northern Ireland and were asked for the English equivalent."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1999-03-09/speech/196/ |title=British-Irish Agreement Bill, 1999: Second Stage (Resumed) |work=Houses of the Oireachtas |date=9 March 1999 |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112193110/https://www.oireachtas.ie/ga/debates/debate/dail/1999-03-09/21/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1964 he was elected in a by-election as a Nationalist MP for [[East Tyrone (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)|East Tyrone]] in the 10th [[House of Commons of Northern Ireland|House of Commons]] of the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]], following the death of the sitting Nationalist MP, [[Joe Stewart (politician)|Joe Stewart]]. He retained he seat in both the [[List of members of the 11th House of Commons of Northern Ireland|general election to the 11th House of Commons]] in [[1965 Northern Ireland general election|November 1965]] and the [[List of members of the 12th House of Commons of Northern Ireland|12th House of Commons]] in [[1969 Northern Ireland general election|February 1969]]. This was the last election to the home rule Parliament at Stormort, before it was suspended by the UK Government in March 1972, and formally [[Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973|abolished]] in July 1973.

====Co-founding the SDLP====
In 1970, he was a founder of the group that established the [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] (SDLP). From 1973 to 1974, Currie was elected as an SDLP member of the short-lived devolved [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)|Northern Ireland Assembly]]. In 1974 he became chief whip of the SDLP, and in the same year became Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning in the power-sharing [[Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly|Northern Ireland Executive]]. The Assembly and Executive collapsed on 28 May 1974, after opposition from within the [[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]] and the [[Ulster Workers' Council strike]]. This led to the imposition of direct rule of Northern Ireland from London.

He contested the [[1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland|1979 United Kingdom general election]] and [[1986 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election|1986 by-election]] in the [[Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)|Fermanagh and South Tyrone]] seat, but was unsuccessful on both attempts. Currie also was elected to the [[Northern Ireland Assembly, 1982|Northern Ireland Assembly]] in 1982 for the same seat. That Assembly, which was an attempt by the UK Government to reintroduce devolved power-sharing, collapsed in 1986 without executive ministerial functions ever being transferred to it from the UK [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]] as no political agreement could be reached on power-sharing between the parties owing to nationalists abstentionism over the constituency boundaries used to elect members, and unionist opposition to the [[Anglo-Irish Agreement|1985 Anglo Irish Agreement]].

===Republic of Ireland=== 
Following his decision to quit Northern Ireland politics, and relocate his family to [[County Kildare]], Currie became actively involved in politics in the Republic. Partly due to his long-standing doubts about the commitment of politicians in the Republic to the plight of northern nationalists, he joined the [[Fine Gael]] party in 1989.<ref name="Ferriter">{{Cite news|last=Ferriter|first=Diarmaid|title=Diarmaid Ferriter: Currie always doubted South's commitment to the North|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/diarmaid-ferriter-currie-always-doubted-south-s-commitment-to-the-north-1.4726115|access-date=2021-11-12|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref> He was elected as a Fine Gael TD for [[Dublin West (Dáil constituency)|Dublin West]] at the [[1989 Irish general election]].

====1990 Irish presidential election====
{{Main| 1990 Irish presidential election}}
In 1990 Fine Gael selected Currie as their candidate for the [[1990 Irish presidential election]], running against [[Tánaiste]] and [[Fianna Fáil]] TD, [[Brian Lenihan Snr|Brian Lenihan Sr]], and Senator [[Mary Robinson]] for the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]]. The 1990 election was the first contested election for the Irish Presidency in [[1973 Irish presidential election|17 years]]. Currie received 267,902 first preference votes (approximately 17%) and was eliminated on the first count. The distribution of his votes saw Mary Robinson elected as Ireland's first female president on the second count, beating Lenihan by more than 86,000 votes.

In his 2004 autobiography ''All Hell will Break Loose'', he wrote about his experience of running in the presidential election, and the prejudice he faced as a nationalist from Ulster in southern politics: "What annoyed, indeed angered me most was the suggestion that because I came from the North, I was not a real Irishman ... what I called the partitionist mentality ... [during the election campaign] the [then Fianna Fáil] Minister for Justice [<nowiki/>[[Ray Burke (Irish politician)|Ray Burke]]] said Fine Gael leader [[Alan Dukes]] 'had to go to Tyrone to find a candidate for the presidency' ... it was hard to take, particularly from so-called republicans".<ref name="Ferriter"/>

====As a TD====
Following his defeat in the presidential election, Austin Currie held his Dáil seat in Dublin West at the [[1992 Irish general election|1992]] and [[1997 Irish general election|1997 general elections]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Austin Currie |url=https://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3804 |website=ElectionsIreland.org |access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Austin-Currie.D.1989-06-29/|title=Austin Currie|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref> Following the formation of the so-called [[24th Government of Ireland|Rainbow Coalition]] between Fine Gael, Labour and [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]], on 20 December 1994 newly appointed [[Taoiseach]] [[John Bruton]] appointed Currie as a [[Minister of State (Ireland)|Minister of State]] with responsibility for Children's Rights<ref>{{Cite news|last=O'connor|first=Alison|title=Currie pledges to fight paedophilia|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/currie-pledges-to-fight-paedophilia-1.78891|access-date=2021-11-12|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref> at the Departments of [[Minister of State at the Department of Health|Health]], [[Minister of State at the Department of Education|Education]] and [[Minister of State at the Department of Justice|Justice]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1995-01-24/18/|title=Appointment of Members of Government and Ministers of State – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil)|date=25 January 1995|access-date=13 January 2020|website=Houses of the Oireachtas}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Irish legislation|type=si|year=1995|number=13|name=Justice (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 1995|date=20 January 1995|access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Irish legislation|type=si|year=1995|number=130|name=Health (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 1995|date=18 January 1995|access-date=10 November 2021}}</ref> becoming the first ever minister in an Irish Government with dedicated responsibility for children. He held this post until the appointment of a new Irish Government on 26 June 1997 following the [[1997 Irish general election]].

At the [[2002 Irish general election|2002 general election]] Currie contested the new constituency of [[Dublin Mid-West (Dáil constituency)|Dublin Mid-West]], and failed to be elected. He immediately announced his retirement from electoral politics. He continued to speak and campaign for civil rights across the island of Ireland and for causes he believed in, such as justice for the families of the [[Disappeared (Northern Ireland)|Disappeared]] during the Troubles. Currie and his wife and family were personal friends of the family of one of the Disappeared, [[Columba McVeigh]], from [[Donaghmore, County Tyrone]]. His daughter [[Emer Currie]] was elected in his former constituency of [[Dublin West (Dáil constituency)|Dublin West]] at the [[2024 Irish general election]].