Desmond Boal
QC
Chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party
In office
1971–1973
LeaderIan Paisley
Preceded byOffice Created
Succeeded byWilliam Beattie
Member of Parliament for Belfast Shankill
In office
1960–1972
Preceded byHenry Holmes
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born8 August 1928[1]
Derry, Northern Ireland
Died23 April 2015(2015-04-23) (aged 86)
Holywood, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyIndependent Unionist
Other political
affiliations		DUP
Ulster Unionist Party
SpouseAnnette Boal
Children3
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionBarrister

Desmond Norman Orr Boal (8 August 1928 – 23 April 2015) was a unionist politician and barrister from Northern Ireland.[2]

Boal had a legal career before he entered politics in 1960. He was the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the Shankill constituency between 1960 and 1972. He was very critical of the leadership under Captain Terence O'Neill, then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Boal opposed the manner, if not the substance, of O'Neill's attempts at improving relations with both the Irish government and the Roman Catholic/Irish nationalist minority in Northern Ireland, along with many backbenchers.[3]

Discontented with James Chichester-Clark and Brian Faulkner who came to government after O'Neill's 1969 fall from power, Boal resigned from the UUP in 1971 and joined Ian Paisley in establishing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order to provide dissident unionist opinion with a viable political alternative. He worked as the first chairman and one of the first public representatives of the DUP and continued to sit in Stormont during the years of 1971–1972. He later resumed his practice as a barrister.

Boal died in April 2015, aged 86.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Mr Desmond Boal; Birth Date: 6 Aug 1928 Death Date: 23 Apr 2015. Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2015
  2. ^ "New alliance starts in Ulster". Leader-Post. AP. 18 August 1971. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  3. ^ Northern Ireland – A Political Directory, 1968–1999, Sydney Elliott and W.D. Flackes (eds); Belfast: The Blackstaff Press; ISBN 0-85640-628-7
  4. ^ "Desmond Boal, barrister - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 13 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  5. ^ Ryder, Chris (7 May 2015). "Desmond Boal obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
Parliament of Northern Ireland Preceded byHenry Holmes Member of Parliament for Belfast Shankill 1960–1973 Parliament abolished Party political offices New political party Chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party 1971–1973 Succeeded byWilliam Beattie


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