Michael Andrew Long is a politician from Northern Ireland who served as the 80th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 9 May 2022 to 1 June 2022, finishing the remaining three weeks of

Kate Nicholl Kate Siobhan Nicholl (born 4 May 1988) is a Northern Irish politician for the Alliance Party, serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South since 2022. Before her election to the assembly, Nicholl was the 79th Lord ...

's term after she was elected to the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

in May 2022. Long has served as leader of the Alliance Party on

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

, and a Belfast City Councillor for the Lisnasharragh DEA since

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Early life and education

Michael Long was born in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

in Canada to mother Elaine and father Adrian.

Political career

Member of Belfast City Council (2014-)

In May 2014, Long was elected to

to represent the constituency of Lisnasharragh. Long would become the leader of Alliance in Belfast City Council.

Lord Mayor of Belfast (2022)

In May 2022, incumbent Lord Mayor of Belfast

was elected as an Alliance MLA for Belfast South. Her term was due to end on 1 June but was cut short due to rules prohibiting double-jobbing that forbid her from remaining as Lord Mayor of Belfast after being elected to the Assembly. Michael Long was installed as the 80th Lord Mayor of Belfast on 9 May 2022 to serve the remaining three weeks in Nicholl's term. Long's three-week tenure made him the shortest serving Lord Mayor of Belfast. He is also the first spouse of a former Lord Mayor of Belfast to also serve in the post. Long's wife Naomi held the position from June 2009 to June 2010. When Long was installed as Lord Mayor on 9 May 2022, he spoke in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and Irish and said that his predecessor was an "inspiration". Following on from Kate Nicholl, who was born in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, Long was the second Lord Mayor of Belfast in a row to be foreign-born. On 1 June 2022, Long was succeeded by Tina Black of

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

as Lord Mayor of Belfast.

Personal life

Long met his wife Naomi when they were teenagers and they married in 1995. Naomi is the current leader of the Alliance Party, and a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

(MLA) for Belfast East. On 23 April 2022, Long's father

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

, a civil engineer, died. His funeral was held on 5 May, the same day as the 2022 Assembly election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Michael Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Kingston, Ontario Lord mayors of Belfast 21st-century politicians from Northern Ireland Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politicians