Máirtín Ó Muilleoir

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir
Ó Muilleoir in 2013
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast South
In office
4 November 2014 – 7 January 2020
Preceded byAlex Maskey
Succeeded byDeirdre Hargey
Minister for Finance
In office
12 May 2016 – 7 January 2017
Preceded byMervyn Storey
Succeeded byConor Murphy
70th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
2 June 2013 – 2 June 2014
Preceded byGavin Robinson
Succeeded byNichola Mallon
Member of Belfast City Council
In office
5 May 2011 – 7 January 2020
Preceded byJim Kirkpatrick
Succeeded byGeraldine McAteer
ConstituencyBalmoral
Personal details
Born (1959-12-31) 31 December 1959 (age 65)
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partySinn Féin
SpouseHelen O'Hare
Children4
Alma materQueen's University Belfast
Profession
  • Publisher
  • businessman

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir (born 31 December 1959[1]) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, author, publisher, and businessman, who served as the 70th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2013 to 2014.[2]

Ó Muilleoir's siblings include writer, blogger, and Huffington Post columnist Adrian Millar,[3] and journalist and editor Gerry Millar/Gearóid Ó Muilleoir of The Belfast Telegraph.

Early life and education

Ó Muilleoir was educated at St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast, and at Queen's University Belfast.[4]

Career

Business career

In 1997, Ó Muilleoir became part-owner of the Andersonstown News, which subsequently purchased the New York-based Irish Echo.[4] A fluent Irish speaker,[2] he has interests in other Irish and American businesses.[4] He served as a temporary director of Northern Ireland Water.[5]

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.[6]

When Pip Glendinning of the Alliance Party resigned her seat two years later due to the birth of 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,[4] detailing these experiences in his book, The Dome of Delight.[2]

He was re-elected at the 1989 and 1993 local elections, retiring at the 1997 local elections to concentrate on his business interests.[2] In 1996, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in North Down.[7]

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.[8]

In 2014, he was co-opted as an MLA into the Northern Ireland Assembly.[9] He stood in Belfast South in the 2015 United Kingdom general election, losing to the Social Democratic and Labour Party incumbent, Alasdair McDonnell.[10] On 12 May 2016, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive.[11] He resigned as an MLA in December 2019,[12] and Deirdre Hargey was co-opted in his place.[13]

References

  1. ^ Profile, niassembly.gov.uk; accessed 10 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is Belfast's new Lord Mayor". The News Letter. 3 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  3. ^ Adrian Millar/Máirtín Ó Muilleoir relation, thewildgeese.irish; accessed 5 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d "Máirtín Ó Muilleoir – a republican for change". The Belfast Telegraph. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Mairtin O'Muilleoir to represent SF in south Belfast". BBC.co.uk. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  6. ^ Belfast city council election results 1985–1989, ARK, accessed 21 June 2013
  7. ^ 1996 Forum Elections: Candidates in North Down, ark.ac.uk; accessed 5 March 2017.
  8. ^ Balmoral election results, 1993–2011, ARK.ac.uk; accessed 21 June 2013.
  9. ^ Profile, belfasttelegraph.co.uk; accessed 17 May 2015.
  10. ^ Belfast South result, BBC News, accessed 6 July 2016
  11. ^ Ó Muilleoir is new North finance minister, The Irish Echo, 25 May 2016, accessed 22 January 2017
  12. ^ "Sinn Fein MLAs Megan Fearon and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir quit Assembly". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Former Sinn Féin lord mayor Deirdre Hargey to replace Máirtín Ó Muilleoir in Assembly seat". The Irish News. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  • Profile, companieshouse.gov.uk; accessed 9 December 2016.
  • Profile, heraldscotland.com; accessed 25 February 2017.
Civic offices
Preceded by Lord Mayor of Belfast
2013–2014 		Succeeded by
Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by MLA for Belfast South
2014–2020 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2016–2017 		Succeeded by