MLA
What position did Michelle O'Neill take from May 2011 to Mar 2016?
Michelle ONeill Michelle ONeill ( née Doris ; born 10 January 1977 ) is an Irish politician serving as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since 2020 . She has served as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018 and has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly ( MLA ) for Mid Ulster since 2007 . In the Northern Ireland Executive , she previously served under deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2016 and Minister of Health from 2016 to 2017 . Background . ONeill was born in Fermoy , County Cork , Republic of Ireland . She comes from an Irish republican family in Clonoe , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland . Her father Brendan Doris was a Provisional IRA prisoner and Sinn Féin councillor . Her uncle Paul Doris is a former national president of the Irish Northern Aid Committee ( NORAID ) . A cousin , Tony Doris , was one of three IRA members killed in an ambush by the Special Air Service in 1991 . Another cousin , IRA volunteer Gareth Malachy Doris , was shot and wounded during the 1997 Coalisland attack . After the death of Brendan Doris in 2006 , Martin McGuinness paid tribute to the Doris family as a well-known and respected republican family [ who ] have played a significant role in the republican struggle for many years . ONeill attended St . Patricks Girls Academy , a Catholic grammar school in Dungannon , Tyrone . She subsequently began to train as an accounting technician , before pursuing a political career . Early political career . ONeill became involved in republican politics in her teens , assisting her father with constituency work in his role as a Dungannon councillor . She joined Sinn Féin after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 , at the age of 21 , and started working as an advisor to Francie Molloy in the Northern Ireland Assembly . She kept this role until 2005 , when she was elected to represent the Torrent electoral area on Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council , taking the seat which had been vacated by her father . ONeill was elected as an MLA for Mid Ulster in the 2007 Assembly election , succeeding her Sinn Féin colleague Geraldine Dougan . While a backbencher in the Assembly , she sat on Stormonts education and health committees . In 2010 , she became Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone . ONeill was the first woman to hold the position of Mayor , as well as one of the youngest people . She held the council position until 2011 . Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development . ONeill succeeded Michelle Gildernew as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive after the 2011 Assembly election . One of her key decisions in the role was the relocation of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Developments headquarters from Belfast to a former British Army barracks in Ballykelly , County Londonderry in a bid to decentralise civil service jobs . The decision overruled an internal report on the matter , which recommended Strabane as a more appropriate location . In December 2013 , the High Court quashed a decision by ONeill to reallocate 7% of Common Agricultural Policy funds to rural development projects that had been favoured by environmentalists . The court ruled that she was in breach of the Ministerial Code , having not sought the necessary permissions for the transfer from the Executive . Minister of Health . ONeill replaced the Democratic Unionist Partys Simon Hamilton as Minister of Health following the 2016 election . After just eight days in office , she announced she would be scrapping the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood in Northern Ireland . On 25 October 2016 , ONeill unveiled a document titled Health and Wellbeing 2026 : Delivering Together , a ten-year plan which is based on the findings of the Bengoa Report and aims to modernise the health and social care system . Vice President of Sinn Féin and deputy First Minister . In January 2017 , when Martin McGuinness resigned as deputy First Minister in protest against the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal , and said that he would not stand in the resulting snap election , ONeill was chosen as Sinn Féins new party leader in the North . The fact that she was favoured for the leadership ahead of former IRA member Conor Murphy marked a notable break in the leaderships direct association with the organisation . In the election that followed McGuinnesss resignation , ONeill was returned to the Assembly , topping the poll in Mid Ulster and with a 20.6% share of first-preference votes . In March 2017 , she called for a referendum on the reunification of Ireland as soon as possible in response to the United Kingdoms decision to leave the European Union . ONeill led the Sinn Féin side in the inter-party negotiations that followed the election , aiming to restore a power-sharing coalition in Northern Ireland , but said at the end of March that the talks had failed , and Sinn Féin would not nominate her for the position of deputy First Minister . In February 2018 , ONeill became vice president of Sinn Féin , succeeding Mary Lou McDonald who became president following the retirement of Gerry Adams . In November 2019 she faced a leadership challenge from John ODowd , winning with 67% of the vote . In January 2020 , ONeill was appointed deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland . Personal life . ONeill became pregnant at the age of 16 . She married Paddy ONeill when she was 18 . Together they have two children . They separated in 2014 . Electoral history . Northern Ireland Assembly elections