Conall McDevitt

Conall McDevitt (born 1972 in Dublin) is a former Irish nationalist politician and MLA for South Belfast. He also served as the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) spokesman on Health, Social Services and Public safety and Policing,^[2] and was appointed to the Policing Board in May 2011.^[2]

McDevitt became the National Secretary of Labour Youth (Ireland) in 1993 and Vice President of ECOSY (European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth) in 1994.^[2] He became the SDLP Director of Communications in November 1996 until December 1999, a time that included the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement and first Assembly elections.^[2] He left the SDLP to work as customer relations manager of Viridian Group PLC, then owners of Northern Ireland Electricity.

Following the establishment of the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, McDevitt served as Special Adviser to the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Bríd Rodgers. He was involved in the attempts to resolve the Drumcree conflict and advised Rodgers during the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Managing Director of Weber Shandwick in Northern Ireland since 2007 and Chairperson of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, he has won several Public Relations Consultants Association, CIPR Pride CIPR Excellence awards for his consultancy work. He was selected as the new SDLP MLA for South Belfast on 9 December 2009 and succeeded Carmel Hanna in the Northern Ireland Assembly in early 2010.^[3]

On Thursday, 17 May 2012, McDevitt launched a consultation seeking views on a reduction in speed limits from 30 mph to 20 mph on designated unclassified roads.^[4]

McDevitt said the SDLP was "100%" behind moves to permit same-sex marriage, but caused controversy by saying two veteran councillors would be disciplined over their opposition to it.^[5]

In September 2013 he resigned as an MLA after he had not declared some payments received while working as an MLA.^[6] He returned to the field of public relations, and as of 2016 was chief executive in Hume Brophy.^[7]

Personal life

Born in Dublin, Ireland, but brought up in Malaga, Andalusia, Spain, McDevitt was educated at the Instituto Bachillerato Mixto, Fuengirola. He lectures occasionally on public affairs and public relations. His blog was a source of commentary on economic and political issues in Ireland.

References

1. ↑
2. 1 2 3 4 http://www.sdlp.ie/index.php/your_representatives/profile/cllr_carmel_hanna_mla/
3. ↑ Jim Fitzpatrick "Stormont new faces bring fresh perspectives", BBC News
4. ↑ McDevitt, Conall. "20's plenty - Private Members Bill". SDLP. SDLP. Retrieved 7 March 2013. 
5. ↑ McKeown, Lesley-Anne. "The Belfast Telegraph - SDLP spat over stance on same-sex marriages". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 27 August 2012. 
6. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23963979 BBC report on resignation
7. ↑

External links

• Official website