Columba Barry McElduff (; born 16 August 1966) is an Irish

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

from its creation in 1998 until his election as MP in 2017. He resigned his seat on 16 January 2018 after publishing a video of himself balancing a Kingsmill loaf on his head, on the date of the anniversary of the

Kingsmill massacre The Kingsmill massacre, also referred to as the Whitecross massacre, was a mass shooting that took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Whitecross, County Armagh, Whitecross in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a mini ...

Early life

McElduff was born on 16 August 1966 in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland, and was raised in the Aghagogan

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

. He was educated at the Christian Brothers Grammar School in

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

, before attending

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. He became an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

activist for

Career

In 1992 McElduff was given an 18-month suspended sentence for assisting the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

(IRA) in the false imprisonment of a suspected police informer. At the 1992 general election, he unsuccessfully contested Mid Ulster. He was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each List o ...

for the West Tyrone constituency in 1996, and has since held this seat on the

. McElduff has chaired the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee of the Assembly and has served previously on other committees, including Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, Education and Employment and Learning. In 2000, McElduff was elected to Omagh District Council. In 2012, McElduff and Lord Laird visited Scotland to learn more about potential

Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

. At the snap general election held on 8 June 2017, he became MP for West Tyrone. McElduff is known for performing comedy sets at Sinn Féin events, and in 2015 performed a stand-up gig in Omagh. He is also known for posting comedic videos on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

."Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff's class clown persona falls flat"
''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

''. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018. McElduff has published two books: ''Keep er' Lit'' (2012) contains short stories and anecdotes from his experiences of republicanism,

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

and community activism, while ''Sustain the Flame'' (2015) looks back at his forays into social media.

Resignation

On 5 January 2018, McElduff tweeted a video of himself in a shop with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head, asking where the shop kept its bread. As it coincided with the 42nd anniversary of the

—where the

murdered ten Protestant civilians— unionists accused him of mocking the massacre and the video was widely criticised, including by nationalists.

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

leader

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously served as First ...

said "mocking is depraved" and called the video "inhuman". McElduff deleted it and apologised, saying he was not alluding to the massacre and offering to meet the victims' families. On 8 January, Sinn Féin apologised for McElduff's actions, condemned the video, and suspended him from Sinn Féin for three months. McElduff announced on 15 January that he was resigning his seat. On 16 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed Barry McElduff as the Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, a nominal

office of profit An office of profit means a position that brings to the person holding it some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit. It may be an office or place of profit if it carries some remuneration, financial advantage, benefit etc. It is a term used i ...

under the Crown which causes the holder's parliamentary seat to be vacated.

References

External links

Sinn Féin: Barry McElduff MLA West TyroneStratagem: WestTyroneMLAs
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McElduff, Barry 1966 births Living people Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (since 1922) Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007 Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Politicians from County Tyrone People educated at Christian Brothers Grammar School, Omagh Sinn Féin MLAs Sinn Féin MPs (post-1921) UK MPs 2017–2019 Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland

Early life

Career

Resignation

See also

References

External links