sentences:  He was murdered by the Provisional IRA on 14 November 1981 while holding a political surgery in a community centre in Finaghy.Unusually, the Seanad Éireann passed a motion of sympathy for his death.While Belfast South was one of the UUP's strongest seats, they had suffered several electoral setbacks, and had lost two other Belfast seats to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) at the 1979 general election.