William Basil McIvor
OBE,
PC (NI) (17 June 1928 – 5 November 2004) was an
Ulster Unionist politician, a minister in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
's first
power-sharing Executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
, a barrister and a pioneer of
integrated education
Integrated education in Northern Ireland refers to the bringing together of children, parents and teachers from both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions in childhood education: the aim being to provide a balanced education, while allowing the ...
.
Early life and education
The son of Rev. Frederick McIvor, a Methodist clergyman, McIvor was born in
Tullyhommon, the
County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland.
The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
part of the village of
Pettigo, the rest of which is in
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
, the village straddling the
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
border.
[Basil McIvor]
obituary, The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
, 16 November 2004[Basil McIvor]
obituary, The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
, 26 November 2004, retrieved 3 June 2010 McIvor attended
Methodist College, Belfast, and the
Queen's University of 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 ...
and was called to the
Bar of Northern Ireland
The Bar of Northern Ireland is the professional association of barristers for Northern Ireland, with over 600 members. It is based in the Bar Library, beside the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, together with ...
in 1950.
[ In his career at the Bar, Basil McIvor became Junior Crown Counsel and a Resident Magistrate in the 1970s.][
]
Political career
He was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore or ...
as Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...
MP for Larkfield in the 1969 election.[ He was one of a group of MPs who supported the beleaguered ]Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, Terence O'Neill
Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, Privy Council of Northern Ireland, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). ...
. Viewed as a liberal he was given the job of Minister for Community Relations by Brian Faulkner
Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, (18 February 1921 – 3 March 1977), was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972. He was also the Chief Executive ...
in 1971 and resigned from the Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
.
McIvor was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973
The Northern Ireland Assembly was a legislative assembly set up by the Government of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1973 to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland with the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive made up of unionists an ...
, topping the poll in Belfast South, and a member of the Ulster Unionist contingent who negotiated the Sunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed by the British and Irish government in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1 ...
in 1973. When the power-sharing Executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
was set up in the aftermath of Sunningdale, McIvor headed the Education Department in the new power-sharing executive, over which Faulkner presided as First Minister.[
As Minister of Education, McIvor advanced plans for what has since become known as integrated education. He proposed that, in addition to the existing (Catholic) Maintained Schools and the (non-Catholic) Controlled Schools, there should be "shared schools", "available to Catholic and Protestant parents alike who wished to have their children educated together". Disregarding a message from Cardinal William Conway "not to interfere with the schools", McIvor, with Faulkner's support brought the proposal to the Executive where he recalls it being welcomed by all, save Hume. Hume was "less than enthusiastic".]
The executive lasted but five months, brought down in May 1974 by the Ulster Workers Council strike
The Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) strike was a general strike that took place in Northern Ireland between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during "the Troubles". The strike was called by unionists who were against the Sunningdale Agreement, which had b ...
. McIvor believed that much of the responsibility lay with the determination of the Unionists' Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...
partners to "achieve all-Ireland institutions that would produce the dynamic that could lead ultimately to an agreed single state of Ireland". The insistence of their deputy leader John Hume
John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A founder and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Hume served in the Parliament of Northern Irel ...
on a cross-border Council of Ireland, in particular, blew "out the light at the end of the tunnel". For the survival power sharing Hume's "grim and unbending" approach was a "disaster". (After the 1998 Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...
, McIvor did allow that Hume had "courageously done much to promote peace in Northern Ireland within the context of his nationalist aspirations, and adbeen a force in compelling Unionists, and rightly so, to engage in dialogue with their arch enemy, 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 ...
).
After the fall of the executive, The McIvor left politics and sat as a resident magistrate.
In 1987, he was subject of a motion tabled in the United Kingdom House of Commons by four UUP MPs who accused him of showing bias against unionists and members of the Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
in a County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
case and so demanded McIvor's removal from the bench.
Investigations
McIvor presided over the initial investigation into UVF supergrass
Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, ...
William 'Budgie' Allen and that of several people accused of killing two corporals in Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
.[
]
Campaigning
In 1981, McIvor became the first chairman of Lagan College, Northern Ireland's first integrated secondary school.[ When Sinn Féin's ]Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...
became education minister he invited him to visit the college. He was also a governor of Campbell College, Belfast from 1975 until his death.
Basil McIvor died on 5 November 2004 aged 76 while playing golf at Royal County Down.[
]
Family
His son Jonathan McIvor was a senior police officer in both the Metropolitan Police Service and the Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland.
It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...
(PSNI) as well as providing law enforcement advice to the European Union Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories
As a Chief Inspector in the Metropolitan Police Service, he was criticised by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry for his failure to manage the initial investigation of the scene of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Basil McIvor was appointed an OBE in the 1991 New Year Honours.
References
Books
* Basil McIvor, ''Hope Deferred: Experiences of an Irish Unionist'', Blackstaff Press, Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, 1998. (autobiography)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McIvor, Basil
1928 births
2004 deaths
Politicians from County Fermanagh
Ulster Unionist Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland
Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1969–1973
Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974
People educated at Methodist College Belfast
Barristers from Northern Ireland
Members of the Bar of Northern Ireland
Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Larkfield
Executive ministers of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly
Lawyers from County Fermanagh
People from Pettigo