Edward Kevin McGrady was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland and a member of the United Kingdom Parliament for South Down.
Education
Born in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, one of eleven children, McGrady was educated at St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick and at Belfast Technical College, where he trained as a chartered accountant, subsequently entering his family's accountancy firm.
Career
In the 1973 power sharing executive he was appointed as Head of the Department of Executive Planning and Co-ordination serving from January to May 1974. In Westminster elections he contested South Down unsuccessfully in 1979, 1983 and at the by-election of January 1986, losing on each occasion to Enoch Powell, the sitting MP. He succeeded at the fourth attempt in the general election of 1987 and held the seat until retiring in 2010. His tenure was briefly threatened in the mid 1990s when the Boundary Commission suggested merging much of his constituency with the neighbouring Newry and Armagh constituency to form a new 'Newry and Mourne' constituency.
This was overturned during a local review which preserved his seat and actually removed more Unionist sections such as Dromore. McGrady's support held solid over the years despite talk of a slippage and this was reinforced in the 2005 Westminster election with his re-election to the House of Commons. On 25 February 2010, McGrady announced that he would stand down at the 2010 General Election.
McGrady continued to be chairperson of the Lecale Branch of the SDLP.
Politics
McGrady entered politics in 1961 as an independent nationalist councillor on Downpatrick Urban Council, serving as chairman from 1964 until the council was replaced by Down District Council in 1973. In the late 1960s he joined the National Democrats and stood for the party in the 1969 election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland in East Down, losing to the sitting MP and future Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner.
Membership
[50th United Kingdom Parliament. 51st United Kingdom Parliament. 52nd United Kingdom Parliament.
53rd United Kingdom Parliament. 54th United Kingdom Parliament. 1st Northern Ireland Assembly.
1st Northern Ireland Assembly (1982). 1st Northern Ireland Assembly (1973–1974)]
McGrady formerly sat on the Northern Ireland Policing Board and was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 1998 and 2003.