Niall Ó Donnghaile (; born 28 May 1985) is an Irish former

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 who served as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for 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 ...

from 2016 to 2024. He was the Leader of Sinn Féin in the Seanad from June 2020 to January 2024. He previously served as

Lord Mayor of Belfast The Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairperson of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the city's 60 councillors. The Lord Mayor also serves as the representative of the city of Belfast, welcoming guests from across the U ...

from 2011 to 2012 and a councillor 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 2011 to 2016.

Early life and career

Ó Donnghaile was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He was educated through the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

at Coláiste Feirste, Belfast, and subsequently obtained a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Politics from

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

. A community worker in the Short Strand (the area of East Belfast in which he was born) and a member of the Short Strand Partnership Board, he also works with various other organisations in Belfast on issues such as the developments at Titanic Quarter and Sirocco Quays, and has spoken in support of residents on the issue of the proposed runway extension at Belfast City Airport.

Political career

Ó Donnghaile was a

councillor for the Pottinger district electoral area in East Belfast. He was previously employed as the party's press officer in 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 ...

Lord Mayor of Belfast

Ó Donnghaile became

in June 2011. Aged 25 at the time, he was the city's youngest-ever lord mayor. After taking office, he removed portraits of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

and

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

from the Mayor's parlour, replacing them with a portrait of the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...

and a copy of the

Proclamation of the Irish Republic The Proclamation of the Republic (), also known as the 1916 Proclamation or the Easter Proclamation, was a document issued by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising in Ireland, which began on 24 April 1916. ...

. He kept portraits of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

on display. He said he did this to make the parlour "more reflective of Belfast". Unionist councillors demanded that the two royal portraits be put back. In December 2011, he declined to present an award to a Belfast girl who was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

cadet. He explained: "At the last minute I was informed that one of the awards was to be presented to a representative of the Army Cadet Force ..to avoid any unnecessary sensitivities to either party, it was arranged for the outgoing chairman of the organisation to present some of the certificates alongside me".

Seanad Éireann

Ó Donnghaile was elected to the Seanad (Irish senate) in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. In December 2023, he announced that he would resign from the Seanad for health reasons, and he did so on 22 January 2024. In October 2024, he revealed that he was the

member who was suspended for sending inappropriate messages to two teenage males, aged 16 and 18, in September 2023. The

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...

was contacted; however, no formal complaint was received from anyone. In his statement, ÓDonnghaile acknowledged that his actions called for him to resign from the Seanad and from the party. In a statement published by ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

'', he said: "This would also give me the space to focus on improving my health and wellbeing, issues that I have been dealing with my doctor on since mid-2021." On the same day, Sinn Féin leader

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, as President of Sinn Féin since February 2018, and as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Central constituen ...

told the Dáil that ÓDonnghaile resigned, following allegations of the sending of inappropriate messages to a 17-year-old male. In a letter published by the '' Sunday Independent'' on 20 October, the teenager said he was 16-years-old at the time, and called for McDonald's apology for the party's "disastrous handling" of his case, saying her tribute to ÓDonnghaile when he resigned was "like a mental stab".

References

External links

Niall Ó Donnghaile's page on the Sinn Féin website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnghaile, Niall 1985 births Living people Lord mayors of Belfast Members of the 25th Seanad Sinn Féin senators Politicians from Belfast Sinn Féin councillors in Northern Ireland Members of the 26th Seanad Sinn Féin parliamentary candidates Administrative Panel senators Irish gay politicians