Bernadette Devlin McAliskey

Biography

My name is Bernadette. Surname: McAliskey, formerly Devlin. I have been a campaigner for social justice and human rights all of my adult life. Over time I became an internationalist socialist republican and feminist.

I grew up in Cookstown, Co Tyrone,  one of six children. My father, a member of the amalgamated union of wood workers died when I was 9; my mother when I was 19 and a student at Queen's University. In 1968 I joined the Civil Rights Movement and was a member of People's Democracy. I was elected as the Mid Ulster MP to Westminster Parliament in 1969. I was 21. In 1970 I was convicted and served six months in Armagh prison for my role in the defence of the Bogside which ended with British Troops on the streets of N. Ireland for 30 years. I continued my activities on my release. In January 1981, I was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, as was my husband, in our home, where our three children were present. I continued my activities on release from hospital in March. Following the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement, like many others the opportunity of paid employment was no longer effectively beyond my reach. Having earlier co-founded STEP ( South Tyrone Empowerment Programme), I was subsequently employed within the organisation, in 1999. Ironically, I have been paid for 25 years to continue the work I for which I and my family had been penalised and punished in the previous thirty years. I will retire from STEP this year, 2023, and will continue my activities as an 'elder of the rebel alliance.' I am also now an artefact in this museum exhibition celebrating 25 years of Peace.

Truth and Justice and an equitable, inclusive society are still to be achieved, and Peace comes dropping slow.