Malachai O'Hara (born 28 July 1979) is a Northern Irish politician, activist and community worker who has been the leader of the

Green Party Northern Ireland The Green Party Northern Ireland, sometimes abbreviated as Green Party NI, is a political party in Northern Ireland. Like many green political parties around the world, its origins lie in the anti-nuclear, labour and peace movements of the 19 ...

since August 2022, having previously served as deputy leader from 2019 to 2022. O'Hara was a

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 ...

lor for the

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

electoral area from

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, until

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. In 2024, he was elected unopposed to

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

, in a by-election to the

Administrative Panel The Administrative Panel is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Republic of Ireland, Ireland). The Administrative Panel elects seven senator ...

Early life

O'Hara was born in North Belfast. He attended

St Malachy's College St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians. History The college, founded by William Crolly, Bishop William Crolly, opened on th ...

and was a classmate of

John Finucane John Finucane (born 1980) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and solicitor. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast North (UK Parliament constituency), Belfast North since the 2019 United Kingdom ...

who also later entered politics. The same year the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

was signed, he then attended the University of Central England in Birmingham. Before entering politics, O'Hara worked as a community worker in loyalist areas, delivered European Union peace funding programmes and managed health initiatives for the Rainbow Project, Ireland's biggest LGBT organisation. While working for the Rainbow Project, he was vice-chair of the Equal Marriage Campaign, contributing to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. O'Hara is the founder of Alternative Queer Ulster, an evening event that brings LGBTQ people into 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 ...

, a place often considered "a cold house to the LGBTQ community".

Political career

O'Hara joined the Green Party in 2014. He was the Green Party candidate for Belfast North at the

2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election (representing ...

, where he was eliminated on the seventh count with 796 first preference votes (2.18%). O'Hara tried again from Belfast North at the 2017 Assembly election, where he received 711 first preference votes, a 1.7% share of the vote. At the 2017 general election, O'Hara contested Belfast North, where he finished fifth with 644 votes (1.4%), losing his deposit. He was elected to

in 2019 for the

area, in an election where the Greens quadrupled their seats on the council, moving from one seat to four. O'Hara became the first Green Party councillor to be elected in North Belfast. During his term of office, he was one of the few openly LGBTQ+ elected members on the council. On the council, O'Hara was a prominent campaigner for clean air,

rent controls Rent regulation is a system of laws for the rental market of dwellings, with controversial effects on affordability of housing and tenancies. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves: *Price controls, limits on the rent that a landlord ...

and climate action. He has called for a

citizens' assembly Citizens' assembly is a group of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public questions so as to exert an influence. Other names and variations of deliberative mini-publics include citizens' jury, ci ...

to examine if drugs should be legalised in Northern Ireland, citing increasing drug deaths as evidence that Northern Ireland's current approach is "obviously not working." He was a candidate in Belfast North at the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, receiving 1446 first preference votes, thereby increasing his share of the vote to 3.1%. O'Hara became the leader of the Green Party Northern Ireland on 15 August 2022, following a leadership election in which he was the only candidate. He was the first openly gay leader of a major party in Northern Ireland. At the

2023 Northern Ireland local elections Local government in Northern Ireland, Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on 18 May 2023. The elections were delayed by two weeks to avoid overlapping with the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, coronation of King Charles III. Foll ...

, O'Hara lost his seat. In March 2024, O'Hara was announced as the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate at the 2024 Seanad by-election and was elected unopposed. He took his seat on 8 April 2024. O'Hara contested Belfast North at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. He received 3% of the vote against the incumbent MP,

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 ...

. He did not contest the

2025 Seanad election An indirect election to the 27th Seanad took place in January 2025, following the 2024 general election to the 34th Dáil in November 2024. Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas, with Dáil Éireann as its lower house. Polls clo ...

Personal life

During the first wave of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, O'Hara led a group of over 70 volunteers who set up a cross community soup-kitchen to deliver over 17,000 meals to vulnerable people across North and West Belfast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Malachai 1979 births Living people Green Party Northern Ireland councillors Gay politicians from Northern Ireland Members of Belfast City Council Politicians from Belfast Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Members of the 26th Seanad Administrative Panel senators