Niall Ó Donnghaile

Niall Ó Donnghaile
At the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards
56th Lord Mayor of Belfast
In office 2011–2012
Preceded by	Pat Convery
Succeeded by	Gavin Robinson
Councillor on Belfast City Council
In office 2011–2012
Constituency	Pottinger, Belfast East
Personal details
Born	1986 (age) 27-28 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Sinn Féin
Education	Colaiste Feirste
Alma mater	University of Ulster

Niall Ó Donnghaile was the 56th Lord Mayor of Belfast. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ó Donnghaile is a Sinn Féin councillor for the Pottinger ward in Belfast East.^[1] Ó Donnghaile was educated through the Irish Medium Sector and is a politics graduate and fluent speaker of Irish. A full-time Sinn Féin councillor, Ó Donnghaile was previously employed as the party's Press Officer in the Northern Ireland Assembly.^{[2] [3]} Ó Donnghaile is also a community worker in the Short Strand, the area of East Belfast in which he was born, and is a member of the Short Strand Partnership Board.^[1]

Ó Donnghaile works with various other organisations across the constituency on issues such as the developments at Titanic Quarter and Sirocco Quays, and has spoken strongly in support of residents on the issue of the proposed runway extension at Belfast City Airport.^[1]

Lord Mayor of Belfast

Ó Donnghaile became Lord Mayor of Belfast in June 2011. Aged 25 at the time, he was the city's youngest ever Lord Mayor up until then.^[4] Ó Donnghaile said he wanted to represent all the people of Belfast. Ruth Patterson, of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), became Deputy Lord Mayor. Controversially, she refused to talk to Ó Donnghaile or shake his hand. Her party backed her in this decision.^[5]

After taking office, he removed portraits of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Prince Charles from the Mayor's parlour, replacing them with a portrait of the United Irishmen and a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. He kept portraits of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on display. Ó Donnghaile explained that he did this to make the parlour "more reflective of Belfast". However, Unionist councillors demanded that the two royal portraits be put back.^[6]

In December 2011 he was again slammed by Unionists, who accused him of refusing to present an award to a British Army cadet. They called for him to apologize or resign. Ó Donnghaile apologized and 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". He said he would be happy to meet the cadet and her family to explain his decision.^[7]

See also

• Sydney Agnew

References