What is Martin McGuinness?
[[File:Martin McGuinness in Jan 2017 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Martin McGuiness (pictured in January 2017) was the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.]] '''James Martin Pacelli McGuinness''' (23 May 1950 &ndash; 21 March 2017) was a Northern Irish politician who was the [[Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland]] until his resignation on 9 January 2017. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a member of [[Sinn Fein]], which is a [[political party]] that wants Northern Ireland to join with the [[Republic of Ireland]] and leave the [[United Kingdom]]. He was the [[Member of Parliament]] and Member of the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] for the [[constituency]] of Mid Ulster. Martin McGuiness joined the [[Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) in 1970 and was put in prison for six months in 1973. He was elected the [[Member of Parliament]] for Mid-Ulster at the 1997 General Election but never took his seat in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. This is because Sinn Fein members do not want to swear any oath to the [[Elizabeth II|Queen]]. McGuiness was one of Sinn Fein's top debaters at the [[Good Friday Agreement]] of 1998 and was elected as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 for the [[constituency]] of Mid Ulster. He was the Minister of [[Education]] in the Northern Ireland executive from 1999 to 2002. On 8 May 2007, following the [[St. Andrew's Agreement]] Martin McGuiness was made the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. [[Ian Paisley]] of the [[Democratic Unionist Party]] was the First Minister until June 5, 2008 when he was replaced by [[Peter Robinson]]. In January 2017, it was revealed that McGuinness was suffering from [[amyloidosis]], a rare genetic disease that affects the vital organs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2604026/martin-mcguinness-is-battling-rare-genetic-disease-and-could-have-just-six-years-to-live/|title= Martin McGuinness is battling rare genetic disease and 'could have just six years to live'|work=[[The Su