Andy Tyrie: Former UDA boss dies - DUP founding member says the 'very controversial figure' was 'in many ways ahead of his time'
Former loyalist paramilitary leader Andy Tyrie, who later supported the Belfast Agreement and became “an advocate for tolerance”, has died.
Mr Tyrie, who was in his 80s, was a former head of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) – a loyalist terror group which carried out sectarian atrocities during the Troubles in Northern Ireland under the cover name of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).
The UFF was banned in the early 1970s, but the UDA wasn’t made an illegal organisation until 1992.
The former paramilitary boss has been praised for his contribution to peace, with a former DUP special advisor describing him as “a product of his times”.
While the UDA had always claimed its role was to defend unionist and loyalist communities from the IRA, it was involved in sectarian murders of Catholics and other criminality – including numerous murders within protestant communities.
Since news of his death emerged, Mr Tyrie’s contribution to peace, reconciliation and the Belfast Agreement – which he championed – has been praised by a number of prominent figures in Northern Ireland.
Former Parades Commission and Community Relations Council chair Peter Osbourne paid tribute to Mr Tyrie on social media site X, saying: “In the years that I knew him, Andy Tyrie was an advocate for tolerance, reconciliation, and on those issues that particularly affect working-class communities.”
Wallace Thompson, a founding member of the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party, posted on Facebook: “I’m sorry to hear that Andy Tyrie has died. Although now in his 80s, he was a key and very controversial figure in the 1970s, and although he was a product of his times – and those were truly dreadful years – in many ways he was ahead of his time.”
John Kyle – who served as Progressive Unionist Party councillor and interim leader of the party, before joining the Ulster Unionists – also praised Mr Tyrie on social media.
“Andy Tyrie was proof that people can change. Over the past 30 years he built bridges and was a consistent advocate for reconciliation. Known to many as Uncle Andy, no one suited the sobriquet better,” Mr Kyle said.
Andy Tyrie became UDA leader in 1973 after its previous leader Tommy Herron was shot dead outside Lisburn. It is has never emerged who killed him.
Tyrie then led the UDA until the late 1980s, standing down after an attempt on his life.
The UDA was responsible for 431 murders throughout the Troubles, according to the book ‘Lost Lives’, which documented conflict killings.
The vast majority of its victims were civilians, and a number were involved with republican or other loyalist terror groups.
The UDA also murdered three members of the security forces, and over 90 UDA members were killed.
Mr Tyrie led the UDA during the Ulster Workers' Council strike in 1974, which brought down the fledgling power-sharing government at Stormont.
He claimed the UDA wasn’t opposed to sharing power with nationalists, but was opposed to the Council of Ireland, which they saw as a step towards unionists being forced into an all-Ireland state.