Sammy Duddy, was a founding member in 1971 of the largest loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Latterly, he became one of those promoting peace between the Protestant and Catholic communities in the working-class areas of his native Belfast.
Sammy was a leading member of the UDA think tank, the Ulster Political Research Group.
Attacked several times, Sammy was forced to move out of his Rathcoole home with his wife, Roberta. He had become the UDA and UPRG spokesman in north Belfast in 2002 after the shooting of Adair associate Davy Mahood, and days later two shots were fired into his Carmeen Drive, Rathcoole, home missing him, but killing his pet dog, Bambi.
Sammy was involved in the negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday agreement, was in semi-retirement from active political life, but came back to prominence after Adair's expulsion. He had, however, never completely broken his links with the UDA. Frankie Gallagher, a former UPRG spokesman, said he believed the stress of violence had contributed to Sammy's death.
During decades of violence in Northern Ireland, the UDA was involved in often violent protest against British government attempts to create a power-sharing authority in the province. In those years, Sammy was also active in the development of the UDA's political strategy, working on successive proposals for Northern Ireland independence and a negotiated power-sharing deal between Protestants and Catholics. In the late 1970s, he helped draft a proposed bill of rights for Northern Ireland.
Born in the Old Lodge Road, Sammy was educated at a local secondary modern school. He was active predominantly in north and west Belfast, sensitive areas where small Catholic and Protestant communities abut each other. He first became involved in the late 1960s when concrete barricades were erected by residents to defend areas, as street fighting broke out in reaction to the civil rights reforms.
In the 1970s, Sammy worked in the organisation's headquarters, both as a press officer and editor of the organisation's newspaper. He and the then UDA commander, Andy Tyrie, did a jovial double-act for visiting journalists, but were both seriously committed to political development in their communities. Sammy helped formulate the policy when Tyrie was involved in the late 1970s in negotiations with Sinn Féin about independence for Northern Ireland.
