David Norris (politician) - Early and Personal Life

Early and Personal Life

David Norris was born in Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo, now known as Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his father (John Norris) worked as chief engineer for Lever Brothers. John Norris served in the British Armed Forces during World War I and World War II; he died while Norris was still a child. David Norris was then sent to Ireland to be cared for by his mother, Aida Fitzpatrick, and her extended family.

...while, on hearing his dad had died, he "had to squeeze out tears" because they were never that close, the death of his mother, was "totally heartbreaking".

"It destroyed my sense of reality," he adds, now. "This was somebody I loved who was there one minute, then the next minute she was gone."

After first meeting in 1975, Norris was in a long-term relationship with Israeli activist Ezra Nawi for a number of years until 1985. They continued a platonic friendship after that. In a Today FM interview with Matt Cooper in Summer 2011 Norris said (paraphrasing) "nowadays people think of a romantic relationship as a sexual one and Ezra and myself have not had that kind of relationship since the 1980s."