Gerard Benedict Newe (5 February 1907 – 25 October 1982) was a Northern Irish politician. A Roman Catholic and Unionist,Laura Cahillane, James Gallen, Tom Hickey, Judges, Politics and the Irish Constitution, Oxford University Press, 2017, , pp. 199-200 he was the first Roman Catholic to be appointed a minister in the Government of Northern Ireland.See: Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland
Biography Born at Cushendall, County Antrim, he was the son of gardener Patrick Newe and Catherine McCanny. He attended St. Malachy's College. A journalist, Newe edited The Ulster Farmer from 1931 to 1967.Chris Cook, The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945, Routledge, 2012, , p. 147 He helped to establish the Northern Ireland Council of Social Service and was Secretary of the group from 1948 to 1972. He was also a founder of the cross-community Protestant and Catholic Encounter Group. He was awarded an honorary MA by Queen's University Belfast in 1967.QUB Honorary Degrees 1871-2016
Political career Newe served as Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Government from 1971 to 1972. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) biography Although not a member of the parliament,Berresford Ellis, Peter, A History of the Irish Working Class, 1985, p 324 he was appointed by Brian Faulkner as part of an attempt to liberalise the government of Northern Ireland. Newe was the only Catholic to serve as a minister in the original Stormont government.Alvin Jackson, Home Rule: An Irish History, 1800-2000, Oxford University Press, 2003, , p. 249 He was appointed to Her Majesty's Privy Council of Northern Ireland on 27 October 1971 at Government House, Hillsborough.The Belfast Gazette, 5 November 1971CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1971
Long before his appointment, Newe had made known his view that the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland needed to fully engage with the Northern Ireland Government. In 1958 he condemned the futility of depending on the Republic of Ireland’s legal claim to the territory of Northern Ireland and encouraged Catholics to co-operate with the Northern government, it being in his own words, “the authority that controls life and welfare."Bardon, Jonathan, A History of Ulster, 1992, p 410
Awards Named as OBE
References
External links Belfast Gazette excerpt Belfast Gazette excerpt Stormont papers