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Irish politician (born 1949) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir | |
---|---|
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast South | |
In office 4 November 2014 – 7 January 2020 | |
Preceded by | Alex Maskey |
Succeeded by | Deirdre Hargey |
Minister for Finance | |
In office 12 May 2016 – 7 January 2017 | |
Preceded by | Mervyn Storey |
Succeeded by | Conor Murphy |
70th Lord Mayor of Belfast | |
In office 2 June 2013 – 2 June 2014 | |
Preceded by | Gavin Robinson |
Succeeded by | Nichola Mallon |
Member of Belfast City Council | |
In office 5 May 2011 – 7 January 2020 | |
Preceded by | Jim Kirkpatrick |
Succeeded by | Geraldine McAteer |
Constituency | Balmoral |
Personal details | |
Born | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 31 December 1959
Nationality | Irish |
Political party | Sinn Féin |
Spouse | Helen O'Hare |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
Profession |
|
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.
Ó Muilleoir was educated at St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast, and at Queen's University Belfast.[4]
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]
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]
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