Roy Magee
Reverend Roy Magee | |
---|---|
Ulster Vanguard | |
Title | Order of the British Empire |
Reverend Robert James Magee OBE (3 January 1930 – 1 February 2009) was a Northern Irish Presbyterian minister who is credited with playing a leading role in delivering the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) ceasefire of 1994. Earlier Rev Magee had been a leading figure in Unionism.
Early life
Magee was born in Belfast's Ballysillan district into a working-class family, with his father working as a fitter in a factory on the Falls Road.[4] He attended Sunday school, although his family was not overtly religious, and it was not until Magee was a teenager that he became consumed by Christianity.[5]
Having worked in a number of roles for Mackie's industrial machinery manufacturers, Magee left work to attend first
Unionist activism
Magee was a member of the hard-line
Following the signing of the
Towards ceasefire
Magee had come into contact with the
In 1991 the CLMC called a ceasefire. Although this ultimately lasted only a very short time Magee was encouraged by the development and sought to work with the body to restore peace. Magee was also dealt with the British government and delivered messages between them and the loyalists, serving as the only conduit of information between the two for a time.[12] Later, at the request of UDA leadership, Magee also put them in contact with Archibshop Robin Eames, the Primate of the Church of Ireland, who also liaised between the government and the UDA.[13] As an individual Magee also had a direct line to Albert Reynolds and was able to report loyalist aims and grievances to the Taoiseach.[14]
On 14 February 1992 he arranged a meeting with the organisation's ruling Inner Council at which the six brigadiers discussed the possibility of a ceasefire with Magee, Godfrey Brown and Jack Weir, the latter both former
Magee's main point of contact was Ray Smallwoods and the two kept in regular touch, although Magee considered ending all contact following the October 1993 Greysteel massacre, the random nature of which disgusted him.[16] He informed the Inner Council that he was finished with them but they pleaded for him to keep the contact open.[17] Magee eventually decided to keep open his contact with Smallwoods and later credited the Ulster Democratic Party leader as "one of the key people who saw the necessity to end it all".[16]
Magee worked closely with
Subsequent activity
Magee served on the
During the 2000 loyalist feud between the UVF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force John White asked Magee to mediate between the warring factions. However the UVF, who wanted to go on the offensive, rejected the proposal out of hand.[20]
Magee died in 2009 after battling Parkinson's disease.[2] He was married to Maureen Reynolds and had two sons and a daughter, with his wife and one son dying before him.[4]
References
- ^ A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast, 1982) p381
- ^ a b NI peacemaker minister Magee dies
- ^ a b c d Times Obituary
- ^ a b c Obituary: The Rev Roy Magee from The Guardian
- ^ David Little, Peacemakers in Action: Profiles of Religion in Conflict Resolution, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 62
- ^ a b The Reverend Roy Magee from The Daily Telegraph
- ^ Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Penguin Ireland, 2004, p. 229
- ^ a b Little, Peacemakers in Action, p. 63
- ^ a b Peter Taylor, Loyalists, Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 221
- ^ a b McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 230
- ^ R. Scott Appleby, The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, p. 185
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 272
- ^ Taylor, Loyalists, p. 222
- ^ Henry Sinnerton, David Ervine: Uncharted Waters, Brandon, 2002, p. 159
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 229–230
- ^ a b McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 257
- ^ Taylor, Loyalists, p. 225
- ^ Roy Garland, Gusty Spence, Blackstaff Press, 2001, pp. 284–285
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, pp. 274–275
- ^ McDonald & Cusack, UDA, p. 318