Mary Margaret Nelis, is an Irish former politician who was a
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 ...
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
About
The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...
(MLA) for
Foyle from 1998 to 2004.
Biography
She was born in Wellington Street in the
Bogside
The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are ...
area of
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
,
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 ...
, in 1935. She is the eldest daughter of the late Catherine and Denis Elliott. She was educated at St Eugene's Convent School and left school at fourteen to work in the Hogg and Mitchell shirt factory. In 1955 she married William Nelis. They had nine children, eight sons and a daughter. Their eldest son was killed in a road traffic accident in 1974.
In the early 1960s, Mary Nelis organised the first community association in the Foyle Hill estate and helped spread community groups in other areas of the city, including the Protestant Fountain estate.
She became active in the civil rights campaign demanding equal rights for the people of the city. She trained as an adult literacy teacher and was a founding member of the Derry Reading Workshop, an organisation set up to help those with educational needs. In 1974, she joined the
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 ...
(SDLP), but resigned a year later. In 1976, she became active in the Relatives Action Committee: an organisation campaigning for prisoners' rights. Two of her sons were imprisoned in the H Blocks in
HMP Maze
HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...
. Her work with young people led to the setting up of Dove House, a resource centre in the Bogside. She later established the Templemore Co-op, a craft co-operative for women with exceptional sewing skills.
She was the centre of some controversy in 1978 when
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...
, editor-in-chief of ''The Observer'', refused to publish an article about her by
Mary Holland
Mary Holland is an American actress, comedian, and writer.
Early life
Holland was born and raised in Galax, Virginia.
Career
After graduating from college, she began performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She is a cast member of ...
, describing Nelis as a "conwoman".
In 1981, Nelis joined
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 ...
. She was elected to
Derry City Council
Derry City Council (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie Cooncil'') was the Local government in Northern Ireland, local government authority for the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It merged with Strabane District Council in ...
in 1993 and served two terms. In 1996 she was an unsuccessful candidate in 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 ...
election in
Foyle.
Northern Ireland elections
/ref> She was elected to 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 ...
in 1998, one of only fourteen women of 108 members. She was re-elected in 2003, but resigned a year later to care for her husband, who sustained injuries in a road traffic accident; and was succeeded by Raymond McCartney
Raymond McCartney (born 29 November 1954) is an Irish former Sinn Féin politician, and a former hunger striker and volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
IRA membership
McCartney took part in the civil rights march in Derr ...
. Nelis is the current Hon. President of Sinn Féin in Derry, the second person and only woman to receive the honour. She was presented with the Paul O Dwyer Award by the IAUC for her work for peace and justice in Ireland. She writes the political column in the ''Sunday Journal'' and also contributes to the Sinn Féin paper, ''An Phoblacht
''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; ) is a Sinn Féin-affiliated online Irish republicanism, Irish republican news platform which also publishes a quarterly print magazine format. Editorially the paper takes a Left-wing politics, left-wing ...
''.
References
External links
Northern Ireland Assembly profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelis, Mary
1935 births
Living people
Sinn Féin MLAs
Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003
Northern Ireland MLAs 2003–2007
Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly
20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland
Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland