Michelle O'Neill
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Michelle O'Neill (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Doris; born 10 January 1977) is an
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 ...
politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2022. She has been serving as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018 and is the
Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...
(MLA) for Mid Ulster since 2007. O'Neill served on the
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Buirge Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas, Ulster Scots: ''Rathgannon an Sooth Owenslanngh Cooncil'') was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originall ...
from 2005 to 2011. She served as the first female Mayor of
Dungannon and South Tyrone Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Buirge Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas, Ulster Scots: ''Rathgannon an Sooth Owenslanngh Cooncil'') was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originall ...
from 2010 to 2011. In 2007, she was elected to represent Mid Ulster in the
Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...
. In 2011, she was appointed to the
Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...
by deputy First Minister
Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...
as
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department i ...
. In 2016, she was promoted to
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...
. In January 2020, she became deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland after the
New Decade, New Approach New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) is a 9 January 2020 agreement which restored the government of the Northern Ireland Executive after a three-year hiatus triggered by the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. It was negotiated by Secretary of State for ...
agreement restored the power-sharing executive. O'Neill automatically relinquished her office following
Paul Givan Paul Jonathan Givan (born 12 October 1981) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Givan served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from June 2021 to February 2022, the youngest perso ...
's resignation as first minister on 3 February 2022. Sinn Féin became the largest party after the 2022 Assembly election, putting O'Neill in line for the position of First Minister of Northern Ireland.


Background

O'Neill was born in
Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,500 people. It is located in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, and is in the Dái ...
,
County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
. She comes from an
Irish republican Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...
family in
Clonoe Clonoe () is a small village and a civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It includes O'Rahilly Park where the Clonoe O'Rahillys Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club play their home games. It was the scene of the Clonoe ambush in 19 ...
,
County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...
,
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 ...
. Her father Brendan Doris was a
Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
prisoner and
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 Gri ...
councillor. Her uncle Paul Doris is a former national president of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (NORAID). A cousin, Tony Doris, was one of three IRA members killed in an ambush by the Special Air Service in 1991. Another cousin, IRA
volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
Gareth Malachy Doris, was shot and wounded during the 1997 Coalisland attack. After the death of Brendan Doris in 2006,
Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...
paid tribute to the Doris family as "a well-known and respected republican family hohave played a significant role in the republican struggle for many years". O'Neill attended St. Patrick's Girls' Academy, a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
in Dungannon, Tyrone. She subsequently began to train as an
accounting technician Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. ...
, before pursuing a political career.


Political career


Early career

O'Neill became involved in republican politics in her teens, assisting her father with constituency work in his role as a Dungannon councillor. She joined Sinn Féin after the
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...
in 1998, at the age of 21, and started working as an advisor to
Francie Molloy Francie Molloy ( ga, Proinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh; born 16 December 1950) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been the abstentionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Ulster since 2013. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) ...
in the
Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...
. She kept this role until 2005, when she was elected to represent the Torrent electoral area on
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council ( ga, Comhairle Buirge Dhún Geanainn agus Thír Eoghain Theas, Ulster Scots: ''Rathgannon an Sooth Owenslanngh Cooncil'') was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originall ...
, taking the seat which had been vacated by her father. O'Neill was elected as an MLA for Mid Ulster in the 2007 Assembly election, succeeding her Sinn Féin colleague Geraldine Dougan. While a
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
in the Assembly, she sat on Stormont's education and health committees. In 2010, she became Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone. O'Neill was the first woman to hold the position of Mayor, as well as one of the youngest people. She held the council position until 2011.


Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

O'Neill succeeded
Michelle Gildernew Michelle Gildernew (born 28 March 1970) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, having been re-elected in June 2017 after previously holding t ...
as
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department i ...
in the
Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...
after the 2011 Assembly election. One of her key decisions in the role was the relocation of the
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department i ...
's headquarters from Belfast to a former British Army barracks in
Ballykelly, County Londonderry Ballykelly () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies west of Limavady on the main Derry to Limavady A2 road and is east of Derry. It is designated as a Large Village and in 2011 the population of Ballykell ...
in a bid to decentralise
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
jobs. The decision overruled an internal report on the matter, which recommended Strabane as a more appropriate location. In December 2013, the High Court quashed a decision by O'Neill to reallocate 7% of
Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...
funds to rural development projects that had been favoured by
environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
s. The court ruled that she was in breach of the Ministerial Code, having not sought the necessary permissions for the transfer from the Executive.


Minister of Health

O'Neill replaced the
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
's
Simon Hamilton Simon Hamilton (born 17 March 1977) is a former Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Hamilton was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2007 to 2019; Hamil ...
as
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...
following the 2016 election. After just eight days in office, she announced she would be scrapping the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood in Northern Ireland. On 25 October 2016, O'Neill unveiled a document titled ''Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together'', a ten-year plan which is based on the findings of the Bengoa Report and aims to modernise the health and social care system.


Vice President of Sinn Féin

In January 2017, when
Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...
resigned as deputy First Minister in protest against the
Renewable Heat Incentive scandal The Renewable Heat Incentive scandal (RHI scandal), also referred to as RHIgate and the Cash for Ash scandal, is a political scandal in Northern Ireland that centres on a failed renewable energy (wood pellet burning) incentive scheme that has b ...
, and said that he would not stand in the resulting
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
, O'Neill was chosen as Sinn Féin's new "party leader in the North". The fact that she was favoured for the leadership ahead of former
IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
member Conor Murphy marked a notable break in the leadership's direct association with the organisation. In the 2017 Assembly election that followed McGuinness's resignation, O'Neill was returned to the Assembly, topping the poll in Mid Ulster and with a 20.6% share of
first-preference votes In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...
. In March 2017, she called for a
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
on the reunification of Ireland "as soon as possible" in response to
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
. O'Neill led the Sinn Féin side in the inter-party negotiations that followed the election, aiming to restore a power-sharing coalition in Northern Ireland, but said at the end of March that the talks had failed, and Sinn Féin would not nominate her for the position of deputy First Minister. In February 2018, O'Neill became vice president of
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 Gri ...
, succeeding
Mary Lou McDonald Mary Louise McDonald (born 1 May 1969) is an Irish politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition in Ireland since June 2020 and President of Sinn Féin since February 2018. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central const ...
, who became president following the retirement of
Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020 ...
. In November 2019 she faced a leadership challenge from
John O'Dowd John Fitzgerald O'Dowd (born 10 May 1967) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Upper Bann since 2003. He was previously the Minister for Infrastructure from May to October 2022 and the Mini ...
, winning with 67% of the vote.


Deputy First Minister

In January 2020, O'Neill was appointed deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. She automatically lost her position on 14 June 2021 when Arlene Foster resigned as First Minister, and regained it when she and
Paul Givan Paul Jonathan Givan (born 12 October 1981) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Givan served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from June 2021 to February 2022, the youngest perso ...
were nominated as deputy First Minister and First Minister respectively on 17 June 2021. In February 2022, O'Neill once again lost her position as deputy First Minister with the resignation of Paul Givan as First Minister. Sinn Féin became the largest party after the 2022 Assembly election, putting O'Neill in line for the position of First Minister of Northern Ireland.


First Minister (Designate)

Following the
2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months ...
, O'Neills party
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 Gri ...
won the largest amount of seats with 27 seats, becoming the largest political party in the
Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...
. Their unionist counterparts, the
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
(DUP) came second with 25 seats. As a result of being the largest party, this would lead to O'Neill becoming the First Minister of Northern Ireland, and the DUP leader becoming the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. However, due to the ongoing stalemate between the two parties and, as of October 2022, being no functioning executive of Northern Ireland, O'Neill remains to be officially sworn in as First Minister, and instead is currently acting as the First Minister designate.


Personal life

O'Neill became pregnant at the age of 16. She married Paddy O'Neill when she was 18. Together they have two children. They separated in 2014.


Electoral history

Northern Ireland Assembly elections


Notes


References


External links

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Michelle 1977 births Living people Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly LGBT rights activists from Northern Ireland Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive (since 1999) Northern Ireland MLAs 2007–2011 Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027 People from Fermoy Sinn Féin MLAs Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Members of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council Female heads of government in the United Kingdom Women councillors in Northern Ireland Women activists from Northern Ireland