A Conversation with Sen. Niall Ó Donnghaile – Episode 6

A smiling Niall Ó Donnghaile.Seanad Eireann member Niall Ó Donnghaile joins us this week to discuss early life, why he joined Sinn Fein, role in Seanad Eireann, working with Ian Marshall, Irish Unity, infrastructure and investment in the Island of Ireland and in particular, the North West. You can follow Niall on Twitter here.

 

http://thewoodlandretreat.com/the-beautiful-woodland-bell-tent/dsc_0049-4 Niall Ó Donnghaile (born 28 May 1985) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Senator since April 2016. He previously served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2011 to 2012 and Councillor on Belfast City Council from 2011 to 2016. Elected as a Councillor for the first time in 2011, Niall made history when he was appointed the youngest ever Mayor of Belfast at the age of 25.

He was born in Belfast, County Antrim. Niall Ó Donnghaile was a Sinn Féin councillor for the Pottinger district electoral area in East Belfast. He was educated through Irish at Coláiste Feirste, Belfast and subsequently obtained a B.A.(Hons) in Politics form Ulster University.

Ó Donnghaile was previously employed as the party’s Press Officer in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

A community worker in the Short Strand, the area of East Belfast in which he was born, and a member of the Short Strand Partnership Board, he also works with various other organisations in Belfast 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.

A resident of East Belfast all his life, Niall sits on a number of local boards and community organisations.

A fluent Irish Language speaker Niall is committed to helping build an inclusive East Belfast which welcomes and embraces all of our enriching traditions and cultures in a spirit of equality and mutual respect.

 

 

A Conversation with Senator Ian Marshall – Episode 5

Professional headshot of former Irish Afrmers association chairman and irish senate memebr Ian Marshall.Seanad Eireann member Ian Marshall joins us this week to discuss cross border cooperation, #irishfood, role as senator, civic groups, and building links with Science Ireland. You can follow Ian on twitter here.

He also has a website which you can find here.

http://partnershipforcoastalwatersheds.org/logos-oweb-2?wptouch_switch=desktop Ian Marshall (born 1968) is a farmer and politician from Markethill, County Armagh. He is from a unionist background and campaigned against Brexit. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in Dublin in 2018.

Marshall is a dairy farmer in the agrifood sector and was president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) from 2014 to 2016. In August 2017, Marshall was appointed Business Development Manager at the Institute for Global Food Security in Queen’s University Belfast.

Marshall was elected to the 25th Seanad on 27 April 2018 in a by-election for the Agricultural Panel. The vacancy was caused by the resignation of Denis Landy. He was approached to stand by Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader; his candidacy was also supported by Sinn Féin. He has never been a member of a political party and sits as an independent. He is the first unionist member of the Oireachtas since the 1930s.

Senator Ian Marshall previously revealed how he declined an invitation to join the Orange Order when he was a teenager. In an interview with the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post newspaper, former Ulster Farmers’ Union president Ian Marshall (50) said his father had told him that he didn’t need to hang his colours from a mast in order to prove he was a good unionist.

Senator Ian Marshall was the first Ulster Farmers’ Union president to speak at a Sinn Fein ard fheis, and his familiarity with the party was helpful when it came to winning republican support for his election to the Senate.

On Brexit, the major issue of the day for the agricultural community, he is opposed to the UK leaving the EU, and favours a second referendum on the issue.

“If they don’t do that, I will feel – as one of the 48% of people in the UK who didn’t want to leave – that I’ve been taken out of Europe against my will,”

 

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