Caoimhe Archibald

Caoimhe Archibald (born 20 February 1981) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, who has served as the Minister for the Economy in Northern Ireland since February 2025. She previously served as Minister for Finance, and has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry since May 2016.

Caoimhe Archibald MLA
Archibald in 2022
Minister for the Economy
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 February 2025
First Minister	Michelle O'Neill
Preceded by	Conor Murphy
Minister of Finance
In office 3 February 2024 – 3 February 2025
First Minister	Michelle O'Neill
Preceded by	Conor Murphy
Succeeded by	John O'Dowd
Member of the Legislative Assembly for East Londonderry
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2016
Preceded by	Cathal Ó hOisín
Personal details
Born	(1981-02-20) 20 February 1981 (age 44)[1] Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Alma mater	Queen's University of Belfast
Website	Official webpage

Biography

Archibald is a native of Coleraine where she attended Loreto College. She proceeded to Queen's University, Belfast where she obtained a BSc and PhD in molecular mycology.^[2] She then worked for an agri-food company in Dublin.^[3]

Political career

She unsuccessfully stood for election in the East Londonderry Westminster constituency at the 2015 UK general election, polling 6,859 votes, equating to 19.8% of the total vote.^[4]

She was elected as an MLA at the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election, to represent the East Derry constituency. She won the seat from her party running mate Cathal Ó hOisín.^[5] She was re-elected in 2017 and 2022.^[6][7]

In February 2024, she was appointed as Minister for Finance in the newly formed Northern Ireland Executive.^[8]

In February 2025, as part of a Sinn Féin ministerial reshuffle, she replaced Conor Murphy as Minister for the Economy, after he was elected to the Seanad Éireann.^[9]

Archibald is a founding member of the Sinn Féin Manchester United Supporters Club.