In Northern Ireland party politics, the proverbial apple rarely falls far from the family tree. Perhaps more than most regions, politics is often a family business, with each party producing its own mini-dynasties. Bimpe Fatogun talks to some well-known faces about their political relations.
DENIS HAUGHEY
A founding member of the SDLP, lost his mid-Ulster assembly seat at the last election. His daughter Eilis works for the party central office. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Westminster seat in mid-Ulster in the 2001 general election.
"I was involved in politics long before I was married. By the time Eilis was born I was vice-chair of the SDLP. I moved on to be chair during her infancy and early childhood. I was international chairman when she was going to school, and a member of James Prior's assembly which ran from 1982 to 1986 when she was going into her early teens.
Eilis grew up in a household wedded to the principles of the SDLP but she was very much her own person. From early childhood she was determined to save the world. She was always interested in charitable activity and raising money to help the poorest of the poor all over the world.
At election time, even as a child, she would play a part in pasting posters onto cardboard along with my son Gavan and younger daughter Keelin.
By her teens and early twenties she was out canvassing for me. In this part of the world, unlike elsewhere, young people do tend to vote and voting habits and tendencies tend to run in families.
She was a wonderful kid in that she worked hard at school but also played hard. Eilis had lots of hobbies and interests outside her school work. She was very keen on judo and joined a judo class where she stayed until she had no-one left to fight that was her size.
Irish dancing was another passion. She was an unpaid tutor in the dancing school and finished up the oldest kid dancing.
That's what Eilis is about – staying power and stickability.
Once she is convinced of something she takes a lot of unconvincing. She is very confident of her own view and once her mind is made up she's not easily dissuaded of something she has committed to.
Idealism was always the major feature of her personality. She was always interested in working for good causes. After she graduated with a law degree Eilis decided she didn't want to practice law but work in organisation for human rights and became a volunteer worker for the Campaign for the Administration of Justice.
As her father I was concerned about her standing as a candidate. It is a rough business and a very uncertain life. You take a lot of knocks. You have to put heart and soul into it and get precious little thanks. You can only do it if you feel strongly committed in idealistic terms.
At the same time I know that Northern Ireland needs people like Eilis – honest, decent, committed to the principle of democracy and social justice. It needs people like Eilis to be a politician and I'm very glad and very, very proud she had that interest."
EILIS Haughey
"Since I was a child our hallway has always been stacked up with leaflets, canvassing materials and posters.
Most of the talk in the house would have been about politics and the issues, although we would always try to have a bit of quiet time and talk about something else.
I was aware that our family wasn't the norm – that not all families were so involved in politics. Like any child I found it good to get out of the house and forget about it from time to time.
As a very young child I was very much more hostile to the whole thing. At that age all you understand about politics is that it's taking Dad away, although he would always take great pains to explain what he was doing and why he was doing it.
He made us see that it was something he believed in and he didn't choose to be away from home so much. But still we used to threaten to steal the car keys to stop him from leaving.
Later it was all hands to the deck when elections were called. When we were very little it was the time of paper posters and we would all sit in the garage pasting them onto cardboard, because it was something we could do without getting into too much trouble.
We would also go about leafleting cars. It was great to feel you were helping.
It was really a great inspiration for us kids, growing up and seeing your parents giving so much to other people.
Our doorbell was always being rung at all times of the day and night. It's a wonderful way to bring kids up, to help them to think beyond their own immediate needs.
It inspired in me a commitment to social issues and to try and change things. I studied law so I could do human rights work. I went on to work for a trade union so my political activism had a much broader focus than just what you can do through politics. That was what my mother and father tried to instill in all of us.
At the time when the talks started, around 1996, and (the SDLP) was looking for somebody to work in headquarters for the team going up to Stormont, I went in on a temporary basis but I realised there was a lot I could do.
I stood for election in 2001. It was a challenge really, something I hadn't ever thought about doing. I am more interested in the issues than seeing myself as a 'front person'.
But people were very generous and the local supporters on the ground were great.
Of course, Dad was on hand to do some mentoring. He never actively urged us to get involved in politics and it's understandable.
I don't think it's something you would wish on any of your family. Having grown up with it I'm more aware than most of what it means to be in politics. You have to make huge sacrifices in terms of your time, and your leisure time.
IAN PAISLEY
A Free Presbyterian minister Mr Paisley is a founder member of the DUP and has represented north Antrim at Westminster since 1970. His son Ian has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998.
IAN paisley JNR
"Politics was very much the bread and butter around the table in our house which the whole family were interested in. Not highbrow politics but bread and butter politics that affected ordinary people and there were often healthy family disputes.
The year I was born Dad had just come out of jail and three or four years later he went back to jail and then there was the big strike. So I knew my father was involved in a very public career.
My sisters were eight and 10 years older than me and had grown up in the minister's house and had seen the dramatic change happen to the family, but I was born into it and it was all I knew.
In the beginning when I would ring people up they would mistake me for my dad but my own profile is quite high now and most don't make that mistake anymore.
I always say 'My father gave me my name'.
It's my name, not his. It's certainly never caused me a second thought.
My (twin) brother is very interested in politics as well, but he went into the other side of the family business. He's a minister in the Church. It could have fallen to either of us. I don't think you can plan things.
That's a sure way of ensuring they never happen.
My dad would have liked both sons to be ministers, he has often said that. In fact he once told me not to go into politics, so I regard myself as a bit of a family rebel.
My dad has a very caring and charitable spirit.
There is a love for people and dealing with the needs of people and you can see that whether in the pulpit or in parliament.
I was very aware of his profile growing up and very proud of it – to think that so many people were putting so much faith and support in him to help the community.
I could see as a child that people out there believe my dad is very, very special and can help them.
In Northern Ireland, let's face it there is a politician under every bush, but there are some remarkable politicians and I think my father is a very remarkable politician and a very special man.
He is unique.
My father never asked any of his children to be his clone and he certainly doesn't expect me to follow in his footsteps.
He knows I'm my own person and have to do it my way.
He's very proud of the fact that he has a son who is in the same career and putting forward the same cause.
I'm my father's election agent so in a way I actually run his campaign. We meet up and bash out ideas with each other.
Because we work together we have a special bond which is stronger than father and son. We are also friends.
ALEX MASKEY
First elected a Sinn Féin councillor in 1983, Alex Maskey has served in the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998. His brother Paul topped the west Belfast poll in the council elections of 2001.
"I'm the second eldest in my family and Paul's the youngest. He's only slightly younger than me – he's just over 30 and I'm just over 50.
Like many other people I was drawn into politics at the start of the '69 period. By the end of the 1980 myself and my other brother had been interned for a number of years and there were still a lot of prison related protests so I suppose I was becoming more politically aware but if you had asked me in early seventies would my kid brother be an elected representative I would have laughed.
As a republican there was huge discussion around the end of the seventies and early eighties, accelerated by the hunger strikes and their election. Kieran Doherty, a friend of mine, died on hunger strike. That accelerated a lot of the discussions going on in republicanism.
It was all settled, done and dusted, by the time Paul became involved with the party in a lifetime electoral strategy.
Paul hadn't thought about office. He moved from north Belfast to Andersonstown much later than I did, becoming one of the organisers in west Belfast for the party.
After a lot of discussion it was decided to move my constituency from west to south (Belfast) in 2001.
That left a vacancy in my own seat in the west of the city. My younger brother was one of the people who was put forward. Very unexpectedly he was shortlisted. It was taken at very, very short notice.
By then Paul was a key organiser in west Belfast and a natural choice within the party in the area.
He took to it very, very well, increasing his public role serving the constituency and attending public meetings.
Paul is quite emotional. He wears his heart on his sleeve. On the day of the election, when we knew he'd got elected, we were down at the polling station at the city hall and my mother said 'if he starts to cry he'll embarrass the whole lot of us. Make sure he doesn't cry!'
It's funny, as a child his nickname was 'City Hall'. My dad used to call him 'City'. It rhymed with his name, Paul. No-one ever thought he would go on to be an elected representative.
What I like about the way in which Paul works is his time management. He's able to manage time to fit in his work, working for community and a personal life.
The younger generation are bringing an air of professionalism to the work of the party.
People like myself who are in this full time sometimes need to remind ourselves about time management. Paul manages to keep himself local which benefits his constituency.
He's young enough to let you know he only needs advice if he asks for it. He would run things by you rather than ask you. He doesn't want to reinvent-invent the wheel, but he is his own man."
PAUL Maskey
"Obviously I'm a lot younger than Alex. I was born in 1967 into near enough the start of the 'Troubles' and was very aware of political situation from an early age.
I had had two brothers interned in jail and in my early teens the hunger strikes were going on, which had an impact, even at that age.
You had school kids organising rallies in support of the hunger strikers, walking from school into the city centre.
(Alex) was playing a role in the H-Block campaign. He was living in a different part of Belfast, and I would have seen him but not a great deal.
When we were together as a family we would talk about family life more than politics.
I wouldn't say we were especially close. When I was getting a job and I was serving an apprenticeship as a glazer he thought I was serving an apprenticeship to a motor mechanic!
In the late 1980s the family moved into west Belfast – against my wishes. I wanted to stay in north Belfast. I was about 20 or 21 at the time.
I joined one of the Sinn Féin cumanns in west Belfast and worked for the party during the elections.
On the campaign trail I've never worked for Alex, believe it or not. I was in a different part of the area.
Like every other older brother he likes to pass on advice. I have found him very helpful at times. But it's not all one way, I can also give him advice.
When Alex was moving to south Belfast to stand for the council elections the party asked would I try and stand in his seat.
Obviously standing for election is not a family tradition, but I was delighted to stand and represent the party. I had been very active in the area anyway, working on different schemes and projects.
Speaking in council for the first time can be a bit nerve-wracking. I was nervous on election day but I didn't have long to wait, I was the first person to be elected. I ended up heading the poll in west Belfast.
The count started at nine o'clock and I was elected at 10 o'clock. I ended up going one better than him – a fact I have reminded him of on several occasions since.
He was delighted for me. It was actually a bigger challenge for him in that election. I was going into a safe seat, but he was really testing new ground and he did a very, very good job.
We tend to see quite a lot of each other now. We're a very close family. If anything is going on in the family we all tend to tie in together."
ROY BEGGS
A councillor in Larne since 1973, Roy Beggs has represented the UUP at Westminster since 1983. His son Roy topped the poll in east Antrim at the last two assembly elections.
"All my children have grown up with a lot of family activity related to elections.
They probably all helped at some time to paste the election board for tying up on lamp posts. They all had that extra late night experience of driving round the country putting up posters so elections are not unfamiliar.
I became involved in politics after buying a small farm in Larne in 1972. The local farmers were in dispute with the local council. A delegation came to ask me to speak on their behalf at the local council. I had been a teacher in Larne since 1959 and by 1972 everybody pretty much knew me.
I went along to the council and presented the case, supported by one of the farmers' delegation. Members of the council began to ask me questions and as I answered them one man interrupted me and said my answers were far too long, and I was not to be making another speech.
I replied that 'If ever I got the chance to be in your position I would give a more courteous reception'.
A year later we got the results we had asked for and I was approached by the same group and was asked to stand for election.
Young Roy was a born diplomat. I spotted that early on.
The children used to travel to school in Larne with me in the mornings and I tended to rush a cigarette on the way before we got to school.
The four were in the car and just when I was about to put my hand in my pocket to light up as usual and Roy said: 'Father, you have always been a democrat, you always believed that majority decisions should be respected and you should take account of the opinions of the majority.'
This was a 14-year-old talking and I was worried about what was coming next. I said 'Absolutely right,'
He says 'We have had a discussion before you got into the car this morning and have agreed unanimously that you shouldn't smoke in the car'. And I never did.
That was a first early indicator that here was a guy who would listen and seek to find solutions with much diplomacy and it was inevitable then that he would take the path he has.
There were local issues in the local paper week after week and he gradually became aware of what was going on.
I hear these stories about people planning to become this and become that. I think it was just circumstances pitched him in. He got no early encouragement from me because just as we had four children growing up he has two boys and a little girl.
I wanted him to have time with his young family before he got involved in public affairs because your life's no longer your own. You are accessible day and night, even more now with mobile phones.
But he is very able and competent in his own right. He's a good listener and he's extremely conscientious. He seeks to find solutions to problems.
Roy puts a lot into everything. He is in the Boys' Brigade. I often wish more fathers would give up more time to spend with their children. There's really nothing more important than spending time with the children and family growing up."
ROY Beggs JNR
"I would have been about nine-years-old when my father was elected to Larne council.
I do have early memories of sitting in the car with him, helping to put posters up or something like that.
That would have started at an early age. We are quite a close-knit family and have always worked closely together on the family farm – involved in fencing and drainage, tending the cattle, pigs and sheep.
We all helped out, initially with posters and, later, out election campaigning with him when I was a teenager.
It was 1983 when he stood as an MP. He had been a local councillor and at the start I just blended in with everyone else. But in the late 1970s he was the mayor of Larne for five years at that point some of my classmates knew and I may have got my leg pulled, but it was all good natured. I can't say I felt it had any adverse effects on me growing up. I just went on playing rugby with my friends and doing all the other sorts of normal things you do at that age.
If I'm perfectly honest, I probably thought at some point when Dad stands down as a local councillor I would perhaps take his place.
I went to university and became politically active in my own right. I became secretary of young unionists for two years. It was quite a memorable period in 1986 and 1987, just after the Anglo-Irish agreement.
During all that period and the time after that I was working quietly in the background with no political profile myself. Then when the last assembly elections came up I thought I might as well throw my hat in the ring.
I was the third of three UUP candidates at that stage and was very pleased to be elected. I have never tended to be over-optimistic in my thinking. I know fine rightly that in politics nothing is certain until the votes are counted.
My dad has done a lot of good constituency ground work. He and my mum ran a mobile advice centre every Saturday went out into urban parts of the constituency where practical assistance was needed, as well as a full-time office in Larne.
Any young, budding politician should listen to more experienced politicians but at end of the day I have taken decisions which he may not have taken.
Probably the best advice he gave was when he told me: 'At the end of the day you have to decide yourself, because it's you who has to live with the decision'.
There is a very good work ethic in Dad and I would hope we have all been brought up on that work ethic. It's something that is essential for anybody in any walk of life.
He sets a good example with his work as an MP. That's about more than just constituency work and helping people, it's attending Westminster, he usually spends three days a week at Westminister."
