Patsy Groogan
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Patrick "Patsy" Groogan is an Irish republican politician.
Patsy Groogan | |
|---|---|
| Member of Magherafelt District Council | |
| In office 19 May 1993 – 5 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Bernard O'Hagan |
| Succeeded by | Brian McGuigan |
| Constituency | Sperrin |
| Northern Ireland Forum Member for Mid Ulster | |
| In office 30 May 1996 – 25 April 1998 | |
| Preceded by | New forum |
| Succeeded by | Forum dissolved |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ballinascreen, Northern Ireland |
| Party | Independent Republican (since 2006) |
| Other political affiliations | Sinn Féin (until 2006) |
Background
Based in Ballinascreen, Groogan became a sports coach with a particular involvement in hurling. He became prominent in his local Gaelic Athletic Association, and joined Sinn Féin. In 1991, Bernard O'Hagan, a Sinn Féin councillor for the Sperrin area of the Magherafelt District Council, was assassinated, and Groogan was appointed as his replacement.[1]
Groogan held the Sperrin seat, heading the poll in each council election from 1993 to 2005.[2] He became the first Sinn Féin Chairperson of Magherafelt District Council, and served a second term starting in 2004.[1] He was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum in Mid Ulster, but he did not stand in the subsequent 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election.[3]
In 2006, Groogan resigned from Sinn Féin, along with Oliver Hughes, but continued to sit on the council as an independent. Hughes described their resignations as "purely a domestic issue", but the Sunday Times speculated that they may have been in protest at a lack of internal party democracy.[4]