Fergus McAteer is an accountant

Accountant

An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...

 and former politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

The son of Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party (Northern Ireland)

The Nationalist Party† - was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and was formed after partition, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP....

 leader Eddie McAteer

Eddie McAteer

Eddie McAteer was an nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.Born in Coatbridge, Scotland, McAteer's family moved to Derry in Northern Ireland while he was young. In 1930 he joined the Inland Revenue, where he worked until 1944. He then became an accountant and more actively involved in politics...

, Fergus was active in the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. He was arrested during the events of Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday (1972)

Bloody Sunday —sometimes called the Bogside Massacre—was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in which twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army...

 and charged with throwing stones, but the charges were later dropped. McAteer always strongly denied these claims.

McAteer himself became prominent in the Nationalist Party. In 1973, he was elected to Londonderry City Council, and he was re-elected in 1977. In October 1977 he merged the Nationalist Party with Unity

Unity (Northern Ireland)

"Unity" was the political label for a series of electoral pacts by Irish nationalist and Irish Republican candidates in Northern Ireland elections in the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 to form the Irish Independence Party

Irish Independence Party

The Irish Independence Party was an nationalist political party in Northern Ireland, founded in October 1977 by Frank McManus and Fergus McAteer...

 (IIP), becoming joint chair with former Unity leader Frank McManus

Frank McManus (Irish politician)

Frank McManus is an Irish nationalist activist and former Member of the British House of Commons.Born in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh,he is a brother of Father Seán McManus, the Irish-American lobbyist and Catholic priest, and Pat McManus, a member of the IRA killed in an explosion in 1958.He...

. He stood for the party in Londonderry

Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)

Londonderry was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also a constituency in elections to various regional bodies. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983...

 at the 1979 UK general election, but could take only fourth place in the poll. He held his seat on the City Council in 1981, with an increased vote. McAteer narrowly held the seat in 1985 and the IIP overall saw their representation on local councils reduced from 21 members in 1981 to 4 members in 1985 and dissolved before the next local election, and McAteer did not restand in 1989.

McAteer started an accountancy firm in 1973, and continues to run the firm.