Máirtín Ó Muilleoir
Ó Muilleoir in 2013
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast South
In office
4 November 2014 – 7 January 2020
Preceded byAlex Maskey
Succeeded byDeirdre Hargey
Minister for Finance
In office
12 May 2016 – 7 January 2017
Preceded byMervyn Storey
Succeeded byConor Murphy
70th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office
2 June 2013 – 2 June 2014
Preceded byGavin Robinson
Succeeded byNichola Mallon
Member of Belfast City Council
In office
5 May 2011 – 7 January 2020
Preceded byJim Kirkpatrick
Succeeded byGeraldine McAteer
ConstituencyBalmoral
Personal details
Born (1959-12-31) 31 December 1959
Belfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partySinn Féin
SpouseHelen O'Hare
Children4
Alma materQueen's University Belfast
Profession
  • Publisher
  • businessman

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir (né Martin Millar;[1] born 31 December 1959[2]) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, author, publisher and businessman, who served as the 70th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2013 to 2014.[3]

Ó Muilleoir's siblings include writer, blogger and Huffington Post columnist Adrian Millar,[4] and journalist and editor Gerry Millar/Gearóid Ó Muilleoir of The Belfast Telegraph.

Early life and education

Ó Muilleoir was educated at St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast and at Queen's University Belfast.[5]

Career

Business career

In 1997, Ó Muilleoir became part-owner of the Andersonstown News, which subsequently purchased the New York-based Irish Echo.[5] A fluent Irish speaker,[3] he has interests in other Irish and American businesses.[5] He served as a temporary director of Northern Ireland Water.[6]

Political career

Ó Muilleoir entered politics in 1985, when he stood as a Sinn Féin candidate for the Upper Falls area and narrowly missed out on being elected.[7]

When Pip Glendinning of the Alliance Party resigned her seat two years later due to the birth of the Glendinning's daughter, Ó Muilleoir won the resulting by-election in October 1987. During his time on the council, he initiated a number of legal actions over what he claimed was discrimination by the Unionist-dominated council,[5] detailing these experiences in his book, The Dome of Delight.[3]

He was re-elected at the 1989 and 1993 local elections, retiring at the 1997 local elections to concentrate on his business interests.[3] In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in North Down.[8]

He re-entered politics in 2011, when he was elected as a Belfast City Councillor for Balmoral, South Belfast, gaining the seat previously held by Jim Kirkpatrick of the Democratic Unionist Party, and was elected Lord Mayor in 2013, serving a one-year term.[9]

In 2014, he was co-opted as an MLA into the Northern Ireland Assembly.[10] He stood in Belfast South in the 2015 United Kingdom general election, losing to the Social Democratic and Labour Party incumbent, Alasdair McDonnell.[11] On 12 May 2016, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive.[12] He resigned as an MLA in December 2019,[13] and Deirdre Hargey was co-opted in his place.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Profile, celticlifeintl.com. Accessed 10 August 2022.
  2. ↑ Profile, niassembly.gov.uk; accessed 10 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is Belfast's new Lord Mayor". The News Letter. 3 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Adrian Millar/Máirtín Ó Muilleoir relation, thewildgeese.irish; accessed 5 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Máirtín Ó Muilleoir – a republican for change". The Belfast Telegraph. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Mairtin O'Muilleoir to represent SF in south Belfast". BBC.co.uk. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  7. ↑ Belfast city council election results 1985–1989, ARK, accessed 21 June 2013
  8. ↑ 1996 Forum Elections: Candidates in North Down, ark.ac.uk; accessed 5 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Balmoral election results, 1993–2011, ARK.ac.uk; accessed 21 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Profile, belfasttelegraph.co.uk; accessed 17 May 2015.
  11. ↑ Belfast South result, BBC News, accessed 6 July 2016
  12. ↑ Ó Muilleoir is new North finance minister, The Irish Echo, 25 May 2016, accessed 22 January 2017
  13. ↑ "Sinn Fein MLAs Megan Fearon and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir quit Assembly". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "Former Sinn Féin lord mayor Deirdre Hargey to replace Máirtín Ó Muilleoir in Assembly seat". The Irish News. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  • Profile, companieshouse.gov.uk; accessed 9 December 2016.
  • Profile, heraldscotland.com; accessed 25 February 2017.
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