He and his wife, Betty, who had been a nurse in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, were affiliated with The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and was president of the Ireland-China Friendship Society. A committed socialist, he was also affiliated or involved with the Northern Ireland Labour Party, the Irish Labour Party, the Communist Party of Ireland, the Democratic Socialist Party, the Workers' Party, Democratic Left and latterly the Socialist Workers Party. He was James Larkin's election agent. He was a founding member of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.