Michelle O'Neill: Her path from Fermoy to Northern Ireland's first minister
Picture: Michelle Sinn Minister Mcburney/pa Liam The Vice First In O'neill Wire Office Of President Féin
From a background steeped in Irish republicanism, Michelle O’Neill has risen to make history as Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister.
Ms O’Neill, 47, was on Saturday appointed to the position she became entitled to by leading Sinn Féin to victory in the 2022 Assembly elections. She has pledged to work with unionists to build a better future for Northern Ireland.
Her ascent had been delayed by the DUP’s boycott of the powersharing institutions. Since the collapse of Stormont, Ms O’Neill has been the face of her party’s long campaign to have the Assembly restored, repeatedly promoted as a “first minister for all”.
When she appeared with party leader Mary Lou McDonald in the Great Hall of Stormont this week, after the DUP agreed to end the political impasse, the two women were quick to point out the huge political significance of the moment, stating that their ultimate strategy of Irish unity is within “touching distance”.
While the symbolism of having a republican first minister at Stormont will not go unnoticed, the political reality is that the first and deputy first minster posts hold equal authority. It is often cited in Northern Ireland that one cannot send a letter without the signature of the other.
Ms O’Neill knows this better than most, having previously served as deputy first minister alongside the DUP’s Arlene Foster and Paul Givan when they occupied the office of first minister.
During that time, however, Stormont’s overwhelming priority was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. When devolved government returns to Northern Ireland on Saturday, Ms O’Neill and her new team of ministerial colleagues will be tasked with dealing with a budget crisis and crumbling public services.
Born Michelle Doris on January 10 1977 in Fermoy, Co Cork, and raised in the village of Clonoe in Co Tyrone, her father Brendan Doris was a former IRA prisoner who became a Sinn Féin councillor.
At the age of 16, she became pregnant with her first child. Her family supported her when she became pregnant as she finished school.
She told reporters in 2021 that being an unmarried mother meant she was nearly written off.
"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 said she had some "very negative experiences" and her school "weren’t particularly supportive at times".
Ms O'Neill added: “I have to say my family were very supportive."
She had her second child, Ryan, five years later. Last year she became a grandmother.
She became involved in politics as a teenager and following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, she became an adviser to Francie Molloy.
She was also mentored by Martin McGuinness, one of Sinn Féin's most prominent figures in the North.
In 2005, when her father stepped down as a councillor in Dungannon, Ms O'Neill went for the seat and won.
She later became mayor — becoming the first woman to hold the post in the borough — and in 2007 she was chosen to run for a Stormont Assembly seat in Mid-Ulster.
By 2011, she got her first ministerial role in Stormont, being named the minister for agriculture and rural development.
She got a more high-profile role in 2016, becoming minister for health. In that role, she got rid of Northern Ireland’s ban on gay men donating blood as well as announcing a plan to transform the health service.
As reported by the BBC, opposition politicians questioned the lack of details in the plan, which was not costed.
Mr McGuinness would step down as deputy first minister in 2017 following the Cash for Ash scandal and two months later he passed away.
Ms O'Neill then became Sinn Féin's leader in the North, however Stormont was in a state of deadlock for three years over the scandal.
During that time, Gerry Adams resigned as the party’s leader and was replaced by Mary Lou McDonald. Ms O'Neill was appointed vice-president of Sinn Féin in February 2018.
Two years later, Ms O’Neill became Stormont’s deputy first minister, just months before the covid pandemic struck. The powersharing executive was to be in place for just two years before the DUP collapsed it again in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.
In 2022, Sinn Féin, with Ms O’Neill at the forefront, made history when it became the biggest party in Northern Ireland during the Assembly elections for the first time, a result repeated in the 2023 council elections.
However, Ms O’Neill has also faced criticism in the past for her attendance at events commemorating IRA members.
In 2020, she faced calls to resign as deputy first minister after attending the funeral of republican Bobby Storey in Belfast in 2020 at a time when strict limits on such events were in place due to the pandemic.
Ms O'Neill, alongside 23 other Sinn Féín politicians, attended the funeral of the former leading IRA figure when there had been limits on public gatherings due to covid-19.
The Public Prosecution Service in the North did not take any action against the 24 politicians.
In 2022, Ms O’Neill said in an interview there was “no alternative” to the IRA’s armed campaign during the Troubles.
She said: “I don’t think any Irish person ever woke up one morning and thought that conflict was a good idea, but the war came to Ireland.
“I think at the time there was no alternative, but now, thankfully, we have an alternative to conflict and that’s the Good Friday agreement.”
However, Ms O’Neill has also broken new ground for republicans through her attendance at the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and the coronation of King Charles III in 2023.
She said: “We live in changing times and it was the respectful thing to do, to show respect and to be here for all those people at home, who I had said I would be a first minister for all.
“Attendance here is about honouring that and fulfilling my promise.”