Michelle O'Neill: What you need to know about Northern Ireland's nationalist first minister
After becoming a mother at the age of 15 and losing her IRA member cousin when he was shot dead by the SAS, Michelle O'Neill has overcome prejudice to become the first nationalist to hold office as first minister in Northern Ireland.
Thursday 13 June 2024 11:41, UK
Born into an IRA family, Michelle O'Neill overcame prejudice and sexism as a teenage mother and went on to make history when she became the first nationalist first minister of Northern Ireland.
The 47-year-old is the vice president of Sinn Fein (Mary Lou McDonald is the president) and leads the party in Northern Ireland.
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Early life and career
She was raised in the rural village of Clonoe in Co Tyrone.
Her father Brendan Doris was a former IRA prisoner, her uncle Paul Doris was head of a republican fundraising group, and her IRA member cousin was shot dead by the SAS.
Aged 15, she became pregnant, and was treated like "a plague".
"You were neatly put in a box: single mother, unmarried mother, nearly written off," she said in a 2022 Paste BN interview.
"But I was determined that I wasn't going to be written off, that I was going to work hard and make a good life for her."
She joined Sinn Fein in 1998 and was elected as a councillor in 2005.
She was elected as an MLA (member of the Northern Ireland Assembly) two years later, representing Mid Ulster, becoming agriculture minister in 2011, and later taking the health portfolio.
She succeeded the late Martin McGuinness as the party's deputy leader in 2017 and became deputy first minister of Northern Ireland in 2020 when Stormont returned after three years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, her attendance at a republican funeral caused a major furore, for which she later apologised for undermining the public health message on gatherings.
Stormont collapsed again, and at the subsequent May 2022 elections, Sinn Fein became the largest party for the first time.
Her position as first minister-in-waiting was now assured, and she eventually took office in February this year, becoming the first nationalist to do so.
Wears republicanism on her sleeve
Ms O'Neill wears her republicanism proudly on her sleeve but attended both the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles.
"We have bridges to mend and I look forward to working with King Charles. I'm sure that he will carry on the legacy of building relationships between our two islands," Ms O'Neill had said.
Read more:
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Tap hereAs an MLA, Ms O'Neill is of course not a candidate in this UK general election.
Sinn Fein won seven seats in Westminster in 2019, one behind the DUP, but given the turmoil within unionism presently, the same number this time around could be enough to see it become Northern Ireland's largest party in the House of Commons, as well as the largest party in the Assembly and in local-level politics.
Sinn Fein MPs do not take their seats in Westminster, which requires an oath to the Crown, due to a policy of abstentionism dating back to 1917.
A strong election showing would bolster the claims of Ms O'Neill and Ms McDonald that the union with Westminster is doomed to end within a decade, as they press for a referendum on a united Ireland.