Michelle O'Neill
Michelle O'Neill | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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O'Neill in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Minister of Northern Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 3 February 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Charles III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Paul Givan (2022) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 January 2020 – 4 February 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Martin McGuinness (2017) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Emma Little-Pengelly (2024) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vice President of Sinn Féin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 10 February 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Mary Lou McDonald | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Mary Lou McDonald | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Michelle Doris 10 January 1977 Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Sinn Féin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Paddy O'Neill
(m. 1995; sep. 2014) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ^a O'Neill left the role of dFM when Arlene Foster resigned as FM on 14 June 2021. She was reappointed dFM alongside FM Paul Givan on 17 June 2021. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michelle O'Neill (née Doris; born 10 January 1977) is an Irish politician who has been First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024 and Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018. She has also been the MLA for Mid Ulster in the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2007. O'Neill was previously deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2020 to 2022. O'Neill served on the Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council from 2005 to 2011.
In 2007, she was elected to represent Mid Ulster in the Northern Ireland Assembly. She served as the first female Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone from 2010 to 2011. She has been serving as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018. In 2011, she was appointed to the Northern Ireland Executive by deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development. In 2016, she was promoted to Minister of Health. In January 2020, she became deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland after the New Decade, New Approach agreement restored the power-sharing executive.
O'Neill automatically relinquished her office following Paul Givan's resignation as first minister on 3 February 2022. Sinn Féin became the largest party after the 2022 Assembly election, putting O'Neill in line for the position of First Minister of Northern Ireland; however she did not take up the position until two years later because the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to nominate a deputy First Minister, citing its opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol. On 3 February 2024, O'Neill was appointed First Minister of Northern Ireland. This marked the first time that an Irish nationalist had held the title of First Minister in Northern Ireland.