Niall Ó Donnghaile (; born 28 May 1985) 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 who has served as Leader of Sinn Féin in the Seanad since June 2020 and a Senator for the

Administrative Panel The Administrative Panel () is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Administrative Panel elects seven senators. Election ...

since April 2016. He previously served as

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 ...

from 2011 to 2012 and a Councillor on

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste) is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of (), the ...

from 2011 to 2016.

Early life and career

He was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Ó Donnghaile was a

councillor for the Pottinger district electoral area in East Belfast. He was educated through

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 ...

Coláiste Feirste Coláiste Feirste is the only secondary-level Irish-medium school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Previously known as ''Méanscoil Feirste'', the (Irish language school) is located in the west of the city in a new facility on Belfast's Falls R ...

, Belfast and subsequently obtained a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in Politics from

Ulster University sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

. Ó Donnghaile was previously employed as the party's Press Officer in the Northern Ireland Assembly. A community worker in the

Short Strand The Short Strand ( ga, an Trá Ghearr) is a working class, inner city area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist enclave surrounded by the mainly Protestant and unionist East Belfast. It is on the east ba ...

, the area of East Belfast in which he was born, and a member of the Short Strand Partnership Board, he also works with various other organisations in Belfast on issues such as the developments at Titanic Quarter and Sirocco Quays, and has spoken strongly in support of residents on the issue of the proposed runway extension at

Belfast City Airport George Best Belfast City Airport is a single-runway airport in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated in County Down, it is adjacent to the Port of Belfast and is from Belfast City Centre. It shares the site with the Spirit AeroSystems (form ...

Lord Mayor of Belfast

Ó Donnghaile became

in June 2011. Aged 25 at the time, he was the city's youngest ever Lord Mayor.

Controversies

Ó Donnghaile said he wanted to represent all the people of Belfast. Ruth Patterson of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became Deputy Lord Mayor. She refused to talk to him or shake his hand. Her party backed her in this decision. After taking office, he removed portraits of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Prince Charles from the Mayor's parlour, replacing them with a portrait of the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional refor ...

and a copy of the

Proclamation of the Irish Republic A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

. He kept portraits of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

on display. He said he did this to make the parlour "more reflective of Belfast". Unionist councillors demanded that the two royal portraits be put back. In December 2011, he declined to present an award to a Belfast girl who was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

cadet. He explained: "At the last minute I was informed that one of the awards was to be presented to a representative of the Army Cadet Force ..to avoid any unnecessary sensitivities to either party, it was arranged for the outgoing chairman of the organisation to present some of the certificates alongside me".

References

External links

Niall Ó Donnghaile's page on the Sinn Féin website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnghaile, Niall 1985 births Living people Lord Mayors of Belfast Members of the 25th Seanad Sinn Féin senators Politicians from Belfast Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Members of the 26th Seanad Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates