Austin Currie
Joseph Austin Currie (11 October 1939 – 9 November 2021) was an Irish politician who served as a Minister of State with responsibility for Children's Rights from 1994 to 1997. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin West constituency from 1989 to 2002, representing Fine Gael, and as a Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (MP) for East Tyrone from 1964 to 1972, representing the Nationalist Party and later the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Early life Born in Coalisland, County Tyrone on 11 October 1939, Austin was the eldest of 11 children born to Mary (née O’Donnell) and John Currie. He was educated at the renowned St Patrick's academy, Dungannon, and graduated in politics and history from Queen's University Belfast. On 20 June 1968, he squatted at a Kinnard Park house given to a Unionist secretary during a housing protest in Caledon. All 14 houses in the new council development had been allocated to Protestants. Then a sitting MP in the home rule Parliament of Northern Ireland, Currie's protest was unanimously approved by the Nationalist Party the next day. This was one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. Political