Máirtín Ó Muilleoir ( Martin Millar; born 1959) is an Irish

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

politician, author, publisher and businessman, who served as the 58th

Lord Mayor of Belfast The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairperson of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 60 Councillors#UnitedKingdom, councillors. The Lord Mayor also serves as the representative of the city of Belfast, welcomin ...

(2013–14). Ó Muilleoir's siblings include writer, blogger and '' Huffington Post'' columnist Adrian Millar, and journalist and editor Gerry Millar/Gearóid Ó Muilleoir of ''

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''.

Early life and education

Ó Muilleoir was educated at St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast and at Queen's University Belfast.

Career

Business career

In 1997, Ó Muilleoir became part-owner of the '' Andersonstown News'', which subsequently purchased the New York-based '' Irish Echo''. A fluent

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

speaker, he has interests in other Irish and American businesses. He served as a temporary director of

Northern Ireland Water Northern Ireland Water Limited ( ga, Uisce Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Wattèr'') is a water company in Northern Ireland. Formerly an executive agency within Northern Ireland Executive, it became a government-owned co ...

Political career

Ó Muilleoir entered politics in 1985, when he stood as a Sinn Féin candidate for the Upper Falls area and narrowly missed out on being elected. When Pip Glendinning of the Alliance Party resigned her seat two years later due to the birth of the Glendinning's daughter, Ó Muilleoir won the resulting by-election in October 1987. During his time on the council, he initiated a number of legal actions over what he claimed was discrimination by the Unionist-dominated council, detailing these experiences in his book, ''The Dome of Delight''. He was re-elected at the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and 1993 local elections, retiring at the 1997 local elections to concentrate on his business interests. In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the

Northern Ireland Forum The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

election in North Down. He re-entered politics in 2011, when he was elected as a Belfast City Councillor for Balmoral, South Belfast, gaining the seat previously held by Jim Kirkpatrick of the Democratic Unionist Party, and was elected Lord Mayor in 2013, serving a one-year term. In 2014, he was co-opted as an MLA into the Northern Ireland Assembly. He stood in Belfast South in the 2015 United Kingdom general election, losing to the

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

incumbent,

Alasdair McDonnell Dr Alasdair McDonnell (born 1 September 1949) is an Irish politician who is a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and was its leader from 2011 to 2015. He was the Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 2005 to 2017 and ...

. On 12 May 2016, he was appointed

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in the

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. He resigned as an MLA in December 2019, and Deirdre Hargey was co-opted in his place.

References

External links

Profile
companieshouse.gov.uk; accessed 9 December 2016.
Profile
heraldscotland.com; accessed 25 February 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:OMuilleoir, Mairtin 1959 births Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Irish publishers (people) Lord Mayors of Belfast Sinn Féin MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Members of Belfast City Council Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates Ministers of Finance and Personnel of Northern Ireland