Patrick "Pat" Doherty (born 18 July 1945) is an Irish Republican politician and abstentionist Member of Parliament for West Tyrone. He is a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the same constituency and has been since 25 June 1998. Doherty served as Vice President of Sinn Féin, - from 1988 to 2009, when Mary Lou McDonald became the party's new Vice-President..

Early life

Born in Glasgow, Doherty's parents were from County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Doherty moved to Donegal in 1968, shortly before the Troubles broke out across the border. He has been an abstentionist Sinn Féin Member of Parliament of the British parliament for West Tyrone since 2001, as well as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since the 1998 elections. Doherty has been Vice-President of Sinn Féin since 1988. He has also stood for election in the Republic of Ireland, in the constituency of Donegal North East in 1989 and in the Connacht–Ulster constituency in the EU elections in 1989 and 1994.

In Government

In May 2002 using parliamentary privilege Ulster Unionist Party MP David Burnside named Doherty as a member of the IRA army council. His brother Hugh Doherty was part of the IRA's Balcombe Street Gang.

References

1. Fermanagh and South Tyrone 1998
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7818701.stm

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - ask Aristotle: Pat Doherty
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Pat Doherty MP