[3] McAllister was one of the first wave of Sinn Féin councillors to be elected in the North in modern times, taking a seat on Newry and Mourne District Council, representing Slieve Gullion, at the 1985 Northern Ireland local elections, a seat he held in 1989 and 1993.

[3] He left Sinn Féin and stood down as a councillor in 1993, in protest at their advocacy of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire and their participation in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

[4] Described by author Toby Harnden[5] as "The authentic voice of republicanism in South Armagh," McAllister supported the end of the IRA ceasefire in February 1996.

He delivered an oration at Milltown Cemetery for the Provisional IRA volunteer Thomas Begley who died during the Shankill bombing in October 1993.

[citation needed] A 21-year-old man from South Armagh who was brutally beaten to death in a barn in Oram, County Monaghan, where a dozen men who were members of the Provisional IRA were waiting in black military-style clothing after he was lured over the border in October 2007.

[9] In 2008, his son, Turloch McAllister, was charged with possessing explosives and alleged involvement in a dissident republican group.

[11] His son Turloch was eventually allowed compassionate leave for the funeral at Cullyhanna, South Armagh.