Alderman Maurice Devenney (born 1 January 1959) is a

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 ...

(DUP) politician who was a Derry and Strabane Councillor for the Sperrin DEA from

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. Devenney also briefly served as a

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 2014 to 2015.

Career

Devenney was first 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 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

as a member for the

Rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

DEA, having unsuccessfully contested that district in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Between 2011 and 2012, he served as Mayor of the city. He was elected to the successor council of

Derry and Strabane Derry City and Strabane is a local government district that was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the City of Derry District and Strabane District. It covers most of the northwest of Northern Ireland. The local authority is Derry City and St ...

, representing the Faughan DEA, in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. In October 2014, he was co-opted 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 ...

to replace retiring Speaker and MLA for Foyle, Willie Hay, but resigned from the Assembly five months later to continue as a councillor. In February 2016, Devenney resigned from the DUP. A few weeks beforehand, he had been suspended from the party. The suspension was linked to an allegation that Devenney had encouraged DUP voters to instead vote for the

SDLP 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 (MPs ...

candidate

Mark Durkan 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 Pa ...

outside a polling station. Devenney later denied these allegations and claimed they were part of an underlying scheme by the Democratic Unionist Party to withdraw him from the organisation for having opposing political views."DUP: Former MLA Maurice Devenney resigns from party"
BBC News 17 February 2016 He would go on to contest Foyle as an Independent in the Assembly election that same year, but was unsuccessful, polling 1,173 first preference votes (2.95% of votes cast.) In 2019, Devenney rejoined the DUP, and was subsequently elected onto Derry and Strabane Council in the that year's local elections, this time representing the Sperrin DEA. He lost his seat in the 2023 local elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devenney, Maurice Living people Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Democratic Unionist Party politicians 1958 births Politicians from County Donegal Mayors of Derry Members of Derry City and Strabane District Council Democratic Unionist Party parliamentary candidates