Carál Ní Chuilín (; born 18 December 1964), formerly known as Caroline Cullen, is an Irish

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 ...

politician and former

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

(IRA) volunteer serving as the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024. She has been a member of 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 ...

for Belfast North since 2007 and served in the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure until 2016. On 15 June 2020, she was appointed Minister for Communities on a temporary basis, due to the health of the previous minister, Deirdre Hargey.

Personal life

Ní Chuilín was born and raised in the New Lodge area of Belfast.Sinn Féin website biography
Sinn Féin. She graduated from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1994 with a BSc in Social Studies after completing a degree which she began whilst in prison. She later received a master's degree in Management from

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

Republican activity

Ní Chuilín was an active volunteer in the IRA. In 1989, she was arrested after trying to place a booby-trap bomb under the gates of Crumlin

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

station. At Belfast Crown Court the following year, she was convicted of firearm possession, possession of explosives with the intent to endanger life, and attempted murder. Ní Chuilín was sentenced to eight years in prison, but she was released after four years. She worked for ten years as coordinator of Tar Anall, a project for republican ex-prisoners. In 1999, Ní Chuilín was one of two founding directors of Coiste na nIarchimí, a company described as "the umbrella organisation for republican ex-prisoner self-help groups throughout Ireland". The company was struck off in 2011 after failing to provide accounts, and Ní Chuilín resigned her position. Ní Chuilín has been active with

since her release from prison and represented the Oldpark electoral area 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 ...

from 2005 to 2007, when she was replaced by Conor Maskey following her election to the

Assembly

Ní Chuilín was elected in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

to the

as a

member for North Belfast. Re-elected in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, she was on 17 May 2011 elected by the Assembly under the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure. In this capacity Ní Chuilín became the first senior Sinn Féin representative to attend an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match involving the Northern Ireland team, when it defeated the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

on 10 August 2011, but she did not attend until after the playing of the Northern Ireland Anthem of "God Save The Queen", and she commended "the very real efforts that have been made by the IFA to tackle sectarianism at their matches". In September 2011 Ní Chulín's Department launched Líofa 2015, a project aimed at encouraging people in Northern Ireland to learn, teach and speak Irish. Among those taking up the challenge to achieve conversational fluency by 2015 was

Judith Gillespie Judith Kyle Gillespie, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born November 1962) is a retired senior police officer. She was the Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland between June 2009 and March 2014. Ea ...

, Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and some 1509 other PSNI officers. In August 2012 Ní Chuilín revealed a £3m investment programme to improve facilities for boxing in Northern Ireland, saying "Over £3m will be invested through Sport NI; it's an initial investment, but it is to make sure that boxing clubs have the facilities that are fit for purpose, because at the minute many of them don't." In 2011 former IRA prisoner Mary McArdle was appointed Special Adviser to Ní Chuilín. This appointment prompted much public controversy, as McArdle had been convicted of involvement in the murder of Mary Travers and the attempted murder of her father Tom Travers. Ann Travers, sister of Mary, spoke to the press of her anger at the appointment, and repeatedly demanded that McArdle resign. McArdle was later moved from the post, and in June 2013 the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a bill to bar anyone with a serious conviction from being a special political adviser.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chuilin, Caral 1964 births Alumni of the Open University Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Irish republicans imprisoned under Prevention of Terrorism Acts Irish language activists Living people Members of Belfast City Council 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 Politicians from Belfast Provisional Irish Republican Army members Sinn Féin MLAs Women ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Women councillors in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027