Willie Frazer

William "Willie" Frazer is the founder and leader of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) in Northern Ireland. He was also a leader of the Love Ulster campaign.

Background

William Frazer grew up in the village of Whitecross, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland and is an ex-member of the British Territorial Army. He is a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster which was founded by Ian Paisley. He attended a local Catholic school. His father, Bertie, who was a member of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment, was shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 30 August 1975. Over the next ten years four members of Frazer's family - all of whom were members or ex-members of the British Security Forces, were killed by the IRA. An uncle of Frazer's who was a member of the UDR was wounded in a gun attack.

During the Drumcree conflict, Frazer was a supporter of the hardliners within the Orange Order who were demanding the right to march down the Garvaghy Road against the wishes of local residents. Frazer was president of his local Apprentice Boys club at the time.

For a brief period, Frazer ran a nightclub in Tandragee, County Armagh, which closed down after two Protestant civilians were shot dead in the car park by the UVF. The incident was believed to be linked with a dispute over drugs. Frazer was confronted in an interview on Radio Ulster about the murders by the father of one of the victims. Frazer applied for a legally held firearm for his personal protection and was turned down, a Chief Inspector said, based on intelligence that he was known to associate with loyalist paramilitaries.

FAIR campaign

FAIR claims to represent the victims of IRA violence in South Armagh. It has been criticised for not doing the same for victims of Loyalist paramilitary organisations, or for the victims of the security forces. In the past, Frazer had said of loyalist paramilitary prisoners that "They should never have been locked up in the first place", and that he had "a lot of time for Billy Wright". Frazer, a member of the Orange Order and of the Apprentice Boys, has defended security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. In an interview with Susan McKay he said: "If you were in the UDR and your brother was shot, are you telling me you wouldn't? [pass information on to loyalists] See if a Paki comes from India and kills a Provo? I'm going to shake his hand" "He applied for a weapon for his personal protection and was turned down in 2003 because, according to police, of "reliable intelligence" that he "associated with loyalist terrorist organisations". He denied it and sought a judicial review - it was refused in 2004.

In January 2007 Frazer dismissed Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's report into security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. Frazer also has documented links to extremist groups in America which came to attention when he invited Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America to South Armagh in 2004. Pratt is an advocate of citizen's militias and had written approvingly of their use against insurgencies in Central America and the Philippines.

In September 2010 the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) revoked all funding to FAIR (more than £800,000 over 3 years) due to "major failures in the organisation's ability to adhere to the conditions associated with its funding allocation" uncovered following a "thorough audit" of the tendering and administration procedures used by FAIR. In a statement the SEUPB said: "The SEUPB is charged with ensuring the proper use of public money and as such has no option but to revoke all financial assistance, (amounting to approximately £880,000), that has been offered to the organisation... FAIR has been given every opportunity to respond to and address these issues. The decision to revoke and recover all financial assistance given to the project has not been taken lightly, however, given the seriousness of the issues no other recourse is available."

In November 2011 a European funding body announced that it was seeking the return of funding to FAIR and another Markethill victims group called Saver/Naver. FAIR was being asked to return £350,000 while Saver/Naver was being asked to return £200,000.

Political activity

In addition to his advocacy for victims, Frazer has contested several elections in County Armagh. He has never been elected, and on most occasions lost his deposit. He ran as an Ulster Independence Movement candidate in the 1996 Forum Elections and the 1998 Assembly elections, and as an independent in the 2003 Assembly elections and a council by-election.

Frazer came to wider attention in October 2005 when he got into a public argument with a Redemptorist priest, Father Alec Reid. Frazer made remarks that Catholics had butchered Protestants during the troubles. Father Reid likened Unionist treatment of Catholics to the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis. Reid later apologised for the remark, saying he had lost his temper. Frazer reported Reid to the police for incitement to hatred but no legal action ensued.

Frazer's best electoral showing was 1,427 votes, 25.9%, in a Newry and Mourne District Council by-election in August 2006 when Frazer had the backing of the local UUP and DUP. The total votes polled 5,587 (47.6% of the local electorate); it was a two candidate race for the Fews Area between Frazer and Sinn Féin candidate Turlough Murphy. The combined Unionist vote in 2005 in the area had been 2,446.

In his most recent outing, in the 2010 UK Parliamentary general election Frazer contested the Newry and Armagh UK Parliamentary constituency as an independent candidate. He received 656 votes (1.5%). The seat was retained by Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy who received 18,857 votes.

In the 2011 Assembly elections he was listed as a subscriber for the Traditional Unionist Voice candidate for the Newry and Armagh constituency, Barrie Halliday.

Love Ulster parade

Frazer was an organiser of the Love Ulster parade in Dublin that had to be cancelled due to rioting. In January 2007, Frazer protested outside the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin that voted to join policing structures in Northern Ireland. He "expressed outrage at the idea that the 'law-abiding population' would negotiate with terrorists to get them to support democracy, law and order."

Recent activity

In March 2010 Frazer claimed to have served a civil writ on deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Féin, seeking damages arising from the killing of Frazer's father by the IRA. Sinn Féin and the courts denied that any such writ had been served, but in June 2010 Frazer announced that he would seek to progress his claim in the high court.

When McGuinness stood for election in the Irish presidential election, 2011 Frazer announced that he and FAIR would picket the main Sinn Féin election events. He said, "If the people of the South want a terrorist to represent them around the world as their president then heaven help them."

In October 2011 he attended a protest in Pomeroy against the use of rubble from a demolished police station to level out the playing field of the local GAA club. Frazer stated that "moving the rubble to the GAA club would cause a lot of heartache for many families. The unionist population is small in Pomeroy and they certainly feel betrayed."

After attending a Sinn Fein conference in November 2011 in Newry he reacted furiously to Ulster Unionist Party MLA John McCallister's comments about Unionists as well as Republicans having difficult and painful questions to ask themselves about the past.Frazer stated people were 'appalled' by McCallister's remarks.

Claims

Frazer has made a number of controversial claims about Republicans.

• In December 2004 he claimed he was forced to flee from Camlough after a Republican lynch mob attacked him because he criticized a Christmas tree.

• In April 2006 he was questioned by police after he stood outside watching a house in Newtownhamilton.Frazer claimed former INLA leader Dessie O'Hare was in the house.However police stated no one in the house was wanted for questioning.

• In November 2008 he claimed that dissident republicans had attempted to kidnap him in south Armagh. Conor Murphy, a Sinn Féin MLA for Newry and Armagh and the Minister for Regional Development, said that the claims were those of “a well-known fantasist”.

• In April 2009 he claimed that the Irish Government had previous knowledge of a plan by dissident republicans to attack the Love Ulster parade in 2006 with a grenade (no such attack took place). Frazer demanded an audience with the Irish government to discuss the issue.

• In January 2010 he claimed that IRA hungerstriker Raymond McCreesh had been one of the South Armagh Republican Action Force gunmen responsible for the Kingsmill massacre. A Sinn Féin spokesperson dismissed Frazer's claims as the “ramblings of a fantasist”.

External links

• FAIR website