Sir Oliver Napier at the 40th anniversary of the Alliance party last year.
Sir Oliver Napier, a former leader of Northern Ireland's Alliance party, has died aged 75. Napier co-founded the party in 1970 with a vision of bringing Catholics and Protestants together in defiance of the country's sectarian and political divisions. His political life was characterised by an abhorrence of terrorist violence and a search for cross-community consensus and reconciliation, but it was an uphill struggle. The vision of a Northern Ireland completely at peace and entirely at ease with itself, for which he worked tirelessly, remains to be fulfilled.
He was born in Belfast, where he was educated at St Malachy's College and Queen's University. He obtained a law degree and then joined his father's practice of solicitors.
Napier's roots and values were firmly anchored in the Catholic middle-class of the day. When he decided to enter the political fray during the early period of the Troubles in the late 1960s, he chose to join first the Ulster Liberal party and then the New Ulster Movement, both of which were striving to be moderate influences as community division and conflict engulfed Northern Ireland.
Early in 1970, when some Catholic politicians decided to form the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP), Napier declined to join them. He engaged in protracted discussions with the influential West Belfast MP, Gerry Fitt, to persuade him not to do so either.
Fitt rejected the overtures and so Napier and Bob Cooper, a close supporter, created their own Alliance party. Napier served as leader from 1973. The party gained a sufficient bridgehead in the 1973 assembly elections to join the negotiations for a power-sharing executive, which culminated in the Sunningdale Agreement later that year. Napier emerged from the deal as the minister of legal affairs and head of law reform, a lowly post in the pecking order. Some were surprised that he had not insisted on a bigger role.
Soon after the new administration took office at Stormont in 1974, its authority was quickly undermined by extreme Unionists, led by Ian Paisley. Working in co-operation with loyalist paramilitary groups, they called a general strike in May 1974, demanding that the Sunningdale deal should be overturned.
The brunt of their opposition was focused on the plans for a Council of Ireland, involving the Irish government. Napier and several other members of the executive tried to break the strike by seeking a compromise whereby the all-Ireland dimension would be reviewed in the long term once power-sharing had been consolidated. However, a hardline faction within the SDLP, led by John Hume, were opposed to any compromise. The ground-breaking political development foundered.
Northern Ireland entered a prolonged political vacuum. Napier remained at the political forefront, participating in several failed initiatives but maintaining a small and important moderate foothold in the overall political order. He served on the Northern Ireland constitutional convention (1975-76); Belfast city council (1977-89); and in the assembly (1982-86). In the 1979 general election, in protestant East Belfast, he came within 1,000 votes of unseating the incumbent Peter Robinson, now Northern Ireland's first minister.
Napier resigned as party leader in 1984 and was knighted the following year in the Queen's birthday honours. It was a bold decision for someone from a Catholic background to accept an honour at that point, but it was consistent with his courage and even-handedness. He proceeded to chair the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (1988-92) and successfully contested several subsequent elections, bringing his experience and vision to bear on the protracted political negotiations that followed the 1994 terrorist ceasefires.
He welcomed the comprehensiveness of the 1998 Belfast Agreement and was pleased that the Alliance party remained a major protagonist in political affairs. Last year, Naomi Long won in East Belfast in the general election, the first Westminster seat for the Alliance party he nurtured for so long. The current party leader, David Ford, is Northern Ireland's justice minister.
Napier is survived by his wife, Briege, whom he married in 1961; three sons and five daughters; and 23 grandchildren. A son predeceased him.
• Sir Oliver John Napier, solicitor and politician, born 11 July 1935; died 2 July 2011
He was born in Belfast, where he was educated at St Malachy's College and Queen's University. He obtained a law degree and then joined his father's practice of solicitors.
Napier's roots and values were firmly anchored in the Catholic middle-class of the day. When he decided to enter the political fray during the early period of the Troubles in the late 1960s, he chose to join first the Ulster Liberal party and then the New Ulster Movement, both of which were striving to be moderate influences as community division and conflict engulfed Northern Ireland.
Early in 1970, when some Catholic politicians decided to form the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP), Napier declined to join them. He engaged in protracted discussions with the influential West Belfast MP, Gerry Fitt, to persuade him not to do so either.
Fitt rejected the overtures and so Napier and Bob Cooper, a close supporter, created their own Alliance party. Napier served as leader from 1973. The party gained a sufficient bridgehead in the 1973 assembly elections to join the negotiations for a power-sharing executive, which culminated in the Sunningdale Agreement later that year. Napier emerged from the deal as the minister of legal affairs and head of law reform, a lowly post in the pecking order. Some were surprised that he had not insisted on a bigger role.
Soon after the new administration took office at Stormont in 1974, its authority was quickly undermined by extreme Unionists, led by Ian Paisley. Working in co-operation with loyalist paramilitary groups, they called a general strike in May 1974, demanding that the Sunningdale deal should be overturned.
The brunt of their opposition was focused on the plans for a Council of Ireland, involving the Irish government. Napier and several other members of the executive tried to break the strike by seeking a compromise whereby the all-Ireland dimension would be reviewed in the long term once power-sharing had been consolidated. However, a hardline faction within the SDLP, led by John Hume, were opposed to any compromise. The ground-breaking political development foundered.
Northern Ireland entered a prolonged political vacuum. Napier remained at the political forefront, participating in several failed initiatives but maintaining a small and important moderate foothold in the overall political order. He served on the Northern Ireland constitutional convention (1975-76); Belfast city council (1977-89); and in the assembly (1982-86). In the 1979 general election, in protestant East Belfast, he came within 1,000 votes of unseating the incumbent Peter Robinson, now Northern Ireland's first minister.
Napier resigned as party leader in 1984 and was knighted the following year in the Queen's birthday honours. It was a bold decision for someone from a Catholic background to accept an honour at that point, but it was consistent with his courage and even-handedness. He proceeded to chair the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (1988-92) and successfully contested several subsequent elections, bringing his experience and vision to bear on the protracted political negotiations that followed the 1994 terrorist ceasefires.
He welcomed the comprehensiveness of the 1998 Belfast Agreement and was pleased that the Alliance party remained a major protagonist in political affairs. Last year, Naomi Long won in East Belfast in the general election, the first Westminster seat for the Alliance party he nurtured for so long. The current party leader, David Ford, is Northern Ireland's justice minister.
Napier is survived by his wife, Briege, whom he married in 1961; three sons and five daughters; and 23 grandchildren. A son predeceased him.
• Sir Oliver John Napier, solicitor and politician, born 11 July 1935; died 2 July 2011
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