Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
What was the position of Willie Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore from May 2007 to Mar 2011?
Willie Hay , Baron Hay of Ballyore William Alexander Hay , Baron Hay of Ballyore ( called Willie ; born 16 April 1950 , Milford , County Donegal , Republic of Ireland ) is a Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP ) politician , who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLA ) for Foyle from 1998 to 2014 . He has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2014 . He was the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 8 May 2007 to 13 October 2014 . He attended Faughan Valley High School , Drumahoe , County Londonderry . An Irish citizen by birth , he has objected to not being deemed automatically eligible for British nationality . Political career . Hay was elected to Londonderry City Council in Northern Ireland in 1981 for the Democratic Unionist Party . He served as Mayor in 1993 and Deputy Mayor in 1992 . In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in Foyle. , but was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 . He is a member of the Northern Ireland Housing Council and the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commission . and in 2001 became a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board . Hay was elected Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007 following the restoration of devolution . He also is a prominent member of the Orange Order and Apprentice Boys of Derry . On 6 October 2014 , Hay announced his retirement from the Northern Ireland Assembly as both MLA and Speaker . The role of the Speaker had been taken on by Mitchel McLaughlin in a temporary capacity in September 2014 because of Hays ill health . However , in a letter read to the Assembly , he announced his retirement from the Assembly effective from 13 October 2014 in order to concentrate on returning to good health . In August 2014 , it was announced that he would get a life peerage to sit in the House of Lords and he opted to sit there as a crossbencher , despite being nominated by DUP . Hay was ennobled on 16 December 2014 and took the title Baron Hay of Ballyore , of Ballyore in the City of Londonderry . He subsequently sat as a DUP member . Nationality . He is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport because he refuses to pay an £1,300 UK naturalisation fee ( and take the Life in the UK test ) required for people , such as he , who wish to become a British citizen . I see myself as a British citizen living in Northern Ireland all my life . I have a right to British citizenship and a British passport . I am being discriminated against because I cant get my British passport , he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster in April 2021 .