Tribute Night to
Ivan Cooper
The SDLP in Strabane were very happy to honour the services of
Mr Ivan Cooper, a former MP and assembly member for Mid-Ulster.
Ivan Cooper served as a Minister in the first Power Sharing
Executive in the 1973/74 administration as Minister for Community Relations. Mr
Cooper came into politics at the start of the civil rights campaign as a very
strong and effective public campaigner on issues of human rights, social
justice, equality of treatment in housing and a voice for peaceful
reconciliation.
Mr Cooper was an exceptional orator and public speaker who
inspired and captivated many a public audience in a hall or outdoor arena. Ivan
came from the Protestant community in Dungiven who wanted political change in
Northern Ireland within the context of fairness and equality of treatment for
all citizens.
Ivan Cooper was one of the founding gang of 6 MP’s who helped
establish the SDLP in 1970/71. The other 5 were Gerry Fitt, John Hume, Paddy
Devlin, Paddy O’Hanlon and Austin Currie. These were 6 brave nationalist
politicians who spearheaded a political movement under the Modern Social
Democratic Party within European mainstream social economic agenda.
Ivan Cooper served the people of Mid-Ulster, and Strabane in
particular, exceptionally well in the 1970’s and the early 1980’s. As a
district councillor in Strabane or as a Mid-Ulster assembly member, he was
fearless and direct in standing up to the injustice and men of violence. He was
famous for getting things done at a practical level, be it getting a family a
house or solving a problem for a small business person on a grant application
or other difficulty.
Ivan Cooper was an
exceptional public representative who had a flamboyant and vocal approach to
politics which has inspired people in the nationalist community to seek
democratic and political solutions to problems. He was a true believer in the
motto “Politics is the art of the possible”.
No comments:
Post a Comment