Mark Durkan

Mark Durkan
Durkan in 2011
Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
In office Template:En dash range Serving with David Trimble
Preceded by	Seamus Mallon
Succeeded by	John Reid (As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland) Martin McGuinness (2007)
Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
In office Template:En dash range
Deputy	Bríd Rodgers Alasdair McDonnell
Preceded by	John Hume
Succeeded by	Margaret Ritchie
Member of Parliament for Foyle
In office Template:En dash range
Preceded by	John Hume
Succeeded by	Elisha McCallion
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Foyle
In office Template:En dash range
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Pól Callaghan
Member of Derry City Council
In office Template:En dash range
Preceded by	Anna Gallagher
Succeeded by	Séan Carr
Constituency	Northland
Personal details
Born	John Mark Durkan Derry, Northern Ireland
Died
Party	Fine Gael SDLP
Spouse	Jackie Durkan
Children	Dearbháil Durkan
Parent	Brendan Durkan Isobel Durkan
Relatives	Mark H. Durkan
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast University of Ulster
a. ^ Reg Empey served as Acting First Minister from 1 July to 6 November 2001. b. ^ During the periods of suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland assumed the responsibilities of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. At the time of suspension the Northern Ireland Secretary was John Reid.

Mark Durkan (born 26 June 1960) is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002, and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2001 to 2010. He contested the Dublin constituency for Fine Gael at the 2019 European Parliament election.

Early life

John Mark Durkan was born in Derry, County Londonderry; his father, Brendan, was a Royal Ulster Constabulary District Inspector in Armagh. He was raised by his mother, Isobel, after his father was killed in a road accident in 1961. He was educated at St. Patrick's Primary School and at St. Columb's College, where he was Head Boy.

He studied politics at the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB), and later did a part-time postgraduate course in Public Policy Management with the University of Ulster at Magee. While at QUB Durkan served as Deputy President of Queen's Students' Union from 1982 to 1983. He was also elected Deputy President of the Union of Students in Ireland from 1982 to 1984.

Political career

File:Congressman James Walsh, Chairman of the Friends of Ireland, and other Members of the Congressional delegation pictured with Mark Durkan, Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont.jpg

Durkan with members of the United States House of Representatives at Stormont in 2002

He became involved in politics in 1981 when he became a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. In 1984 he went to work for John Hume as his Westminster Assistant. He became a key figure in organising by-election campaigns for Seamus Mallon and Eddie McGrady in the 1980s.

In 1990 Durkan became chairperson of the SDLP, a position he served in until 1995. He was a key member of the party's negotiating team in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement. Following the Agreement he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, and became a member of the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister for Finance and Personnel. He served in that position until 2001 when he replaced Seamus Mallon as deputy First Minister. He was also elected Leader of the SDLP the same year.

Durkan was re-elected to the Assembly in the election of November 2003. However, the Assembly and the Executive remained suspended. In the 2005 general election he retained the Foyle seat at Westminster for the SDLP, succeeding John Hume. While down on Hume's vote, Durkan won with a comfortable majority, despite a strong effort by Sinn Féin to take the seat. He garnered 21,119 votes, 46.3% of the total.

Durkan announced his intention to stand down as leader of the SDLP in September 2009 so he could concentrate on his parliamentary career. He was replaced as leader by Margaret Ritchie in February 2010. He is a Fellow of the British-American Project.

Durkan has publicly supported gay rights by supporting the Foyle Pride Festival in Derry, in solidarity with those who suffer homophobic prejudice and in some cases violent hate attacks.

In 2011, he voted against the military intervention in Libya.

He joined Fine Gael in March 2019 to contest the 2019 European Parliament election for the Dublin constituency but failed to gain a seat. He is now retired from frontline politics, but remains an active member and supporter of the SDLP.

Family

He and his wife Jackie have one child, Dearbháil. His nephew Mark H. Durkan is an SDLP MLA for Foyle.

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

• thederryvoice.com – Mark Durkan Election 2010 Website
• Mark Durkan's profile at the official SDLP website
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Mark Durkan MP
• Mark Durkan's Biography at the Northern Ireland Assembly
• Maiden Speech: House of Commons – 30 June 2005
• Appearances on C-SPAN