Frank Maguire | |
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Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone | |
In office 10 October 1974 – 5 March 1981 | |
Preceded by | Harry West |
Succeeded by | Bobby Sands |
Majority | 4,987 (51.8%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Gort, County Galway, Ireland | 2 September 1929
Died | 5 March 1981 Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland | (aged 51)
Political party | Independent |
Meredith Francis Maguire (2 September 1929 – 5 March 1981)[1] was an Irish Republican who became an Independent Member of the British Parliament. Born into an Irish Republican family, he was interned during his youth for Irish Republican Army activities; while he later opposed violence, he remained close to the Republican movement. He was running Frank's Bar, a public house in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, when in October 1974 he was elected as a unity candidate to represent Fermanagh and South Tyrone. While not an abstentionist, Maguire's attendances at Westminster were infrequent and he never made a full speech, but he did cast some crucial votes to support the Labour government of the 1970s. He is famous for "abstaining in person" in the no confidence vote against the Callaghan government, which brought it down by a single vote.