Hugh Logue

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Hugh Logue (born 1949) is a Northern Irish former Social Democratic and Labour Party politician and economist who now works as a commentator on political and economic issues.

Hugh Logue first came to prominence as a member of the executive of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association ^[1] - the only SDLP member of the executive. He stood as a candidate in elections to the new Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 and was elected for Londonderry at the age of 24.

He is also known for his controversial comments at Trinity College Dublin at the time of the power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement, which many blame for helping to contribute to the Agreement's defeat, to wit, that: [Sunningdale was] "the vehicle that would trundle Unionists into a united Ireland". ^[2]

As the former vice-chairman of the North Derry Civil Rights Association ^[3] gave evidence at the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday. He was special adviser to the Office of First and Deputy First Minister from 1998 to 2002 and as an official of the European Commission ^[4]

On 17 December 2007 Logue was appointed to Inter-Trade Ireland,^[5]the North South Body established under the Belfast Agreement to promote economic development in Ireland. Integrating Ireland economically has been a theme of Logue’s writing throughout his career, most recently in the Irish Times ^[6] and in earlier publications as economic spokesman for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). He was economist at the Dublin-based National Board for Science and Technology from 1981 to 1984.

In July 2006, Logue was appointed as a Board Member of the Irish Peace Institute ^[7]based at Limerick University.

In the 1980s he was a member of the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace and played a prominent part in its efforts to resolve the 1981 Irish hunger strike. His role is widely credited in Ten Men Dead by David Beresford ^[8], Biting the Grave by P. O’Malley ^[9] and, more recently, in Blanketmen by former PIRA volunteer, Richard O’Rawe ^[10].

Following the 1994 IRA ceasefire, Logue with two EU colleagues was asked by EU President Jacques Delors to consult widely throughout Northern Ireland and the Border regions and prepare recommendations for a Peace and Reconciliation Fund to underpin the peace process. Their community based approach became the blue print for the Peace Programme.

In Brussels, at the European Commission, Logue pioneered policies to promote and fund Science and Research in Europe’s Less Developed Regions. He created the EU initiative STRIDE (Science and Technology for Regional Innovation and Development in Europe). While in Brussels, Logue was chairman of the Northern Ireland Group between 1991 and 1994.

Hugh Logue unsuccessfully contested the Londonderry seat in the February 1974 and 1979 Westminster Elections. He was elected to the 1975 constitutional convention and the 1982 Assembly. He was a member of the New Ireland Forum in 1983.

Hugh Logue is the father of author Antonia Logue

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