Martin Galvin

For the American poet and teacher, see Martin Galvin (poet).

Martin J. Galvin (born January 8, 1950) is an Irish American lawyer, publisher and activist, and former director of NORAID.

Background

Galvin was born on January 8, 1950, the son of a fireman. He attended Catholic schools, Fordham University and Fordham University School of Law. He previously worked as hearing officer for the New York City Department of Sanitation.

Galvin and his wife, Carmel (born 1956), have a son, Martin, Jr.

Political activism

Galvin was the publicity director for the New York-based NORAID, an Irish American group fund-raising organization which raised money for the families of Irish republican prisoners, but was also accused by the American, British, and Irish governments to be a front for the supply of weapons to the Provisional IRA. Brian Jenkins, an expert on political violence at the RAND Corp, noted, "A group can move a dollar from its humanitarian budget to its weapons budget to some other budget and it's still a dollar. And if you reduce the burden an organization has to deal with in taking care of its people, you free money for weapons."

Galvin became a publisher of The Irish People in the 1980s. He was banned from Northern Ireland because of a speech he gave that seemed to endorse terrorism. In August 1984 he defied the ban, and slipped across the border. Shortly thereafter a man was killed during a rally in West Belfast when the Royal Ulster Constabulary tried to arrest Galvin.The following year Galvin attended a mass funeral for an IRA member killed when a makeshift grenade launcher he was trying to fire at a local police station exploded in his face. In 1989 Galvin was arrested and deported for violating the exclusion ban yet again.

Galvin has slammed the peace process as a betrayal of republican ideals, and has characterized IRA's decision to open up its arms dumps to international inspectors as a surrender.

External links

• A Chronology of the Conflict - 1984