David McClarty MLA
23 February 1951 – 18 April 2014
David McClarty may have had one of the lower profiles at Stormont but also the widest level of respect for his integrity and good humour.
The East Londonderry MLA, who passed away after fighting cancer, studied English and classics at Magee College before working in his family’s insurance business.
He served on Coleraine Borough Council from 1989 to 2013 and was elected to the Assembly in 1998. His first speech as an MLA included a call for a natural gas pipeline for the North West. He was rewarded with a promotion to Deputy Speaker (2007-2011) but left the Ulster Unionist Party after a bid by local members to deselect him.
McClarty’s re-election confirmed his local popularity and declined to re-join the party as he had been elected as an independent. He was not a careerist politician and enjoyed a variety of outside interests outside politics, including amateur dramatics, football and a lifelong membership of his local Church of Ireland parish.
The Speaker aptly described him as someone who “fought strongly for all he believed in all the while remaining a true gentleman.” He oversaw the chamber with a “firm but fair authority” and “could always be relied on to provide light relief and to put people at ease.”
He was quietly involved in the Northern Ireland Assembly’s co-operation with the Assembly of Kosovo. In that role, he was a passionate ambassador of Northern Ireland and spoke highly of its achievements as a result of the peace process. David McClarty is survived by his wife Norma and sons Colin and Alan, and the wider family circle.
