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Willie Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Hay of Ballyore
Official portrait, 2022
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 December 2014
Life peerage
3rd Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
In office
8 May 2007 – 13 October 2014
DeputyDavid McClarty
(2007–11)
Francie Molloy
(2007–13)
John Dallat
(2007–14)
Roy Beggs Jr
(2011–14)
Mitchel McLaughlin
(2013–14)
Preceded byEileen Bell
Succeeded byMitchel McLaughlin
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Foyle
In office
25 June 1998 – 13 October 2014
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byMaurice Devenney
Mayor of Derry
In office
1993–1994
Preceded byMary Bradley
Succeeded byAnnie Courtney
Deputy mayor of Derry
In office
1992–1993
Member of
Derry City Council
In office
15 May 1985 – 5 May 2011
Preceded byDistrict established
Succeeded byGary Middleton
ConstituencyRural
In office
20 May 1981 – 15 May 1985
Preceded byThomas Craig
Succeeded byDistrict abolished
ConstituencyLondonderry Area A
Personal details
Born (1950-04-16) 16 April 1950 (age 74)
Milford, County Donegal, Republic of Ireland
NationalityIrish[1]
Political partyDemocratic Unionist Party
Spouse(s)Doris, Lady Hay of Ballyore (née McMorris)

William Alexander Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore (born 16 April 1950), is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, serving as a life peer in the House of Lords since 2014.

Hay served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2007 to 2014, as well as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 1998 to 2014.

He attended Faughan Valley High School, Drumahoe, County Londonderry. An Irish citizen by birth, he has objected to previously not being deemed automatically eligible for British nationality.[2] This policy is due to be changed in 2024.

Political career

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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.,[3] 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.[4] 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[5] 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 Hay's 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.[6][7][8]

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.[9] Hay was ennobled on 16 December 2014 and took the title Baron Hay of Ballyore, of Ballyore in the City of Londonderry.[10] He subsequently sat as a DUP member.[11]

Nationality

[edit]
Further information: British nationality law and the Republic of Ireland and Irish nationality law

Hay was born in Milford in the north of County Donegal in the north-west of Ulster in 1950.[12][13] County Donegal, the largest county in Ulster, is one of the three counties in Ulster that is part of the Republic of Ireland; the other six counties in Ulster make up Northern Ireland. At the age of six, Hay moved with his family to Derry.[12] He is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport because he refuses to pay a £1,300 UK naturalisation fee (and take the "Life in the UK" test) required for people, such as him, who were born in the Republic of Ireland but who wish to become a British citizen.[14] "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 can't get my British passport," he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster in April 2021.[15] In January 2024, a Private Members Bill brought forward by Gavin Robinson passed, allowing people born in the Republic of Ireland after 1948 that have been living in Northern Ireland for longer than 5 years to register as British citizens. It is not known when the bill will become law.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Liam Clarke (8 July 2011). "Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness to make it easier to be British". The Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  2. ^ "- 'DUP man not allowed British passport' - Belfast Telegraph, 20 June 2018". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 20 June 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Northern Ireland elections". Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  4. ^ Personnel Archived 4 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners
  5. ^ "Speaker misses out on the Twelfth.... to say I do". BBC News. 11 July 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  6. ^ "NI Assembly Speaker William Hay to retire as MLA". BBC News. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  7. ^ "Assembly Speaker to stand down". Belfast Telegraph. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  8. ^ "William Hay retires as Speaker of Assembly". Newsletter. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Karren Brady and Sir Stuart Rose among new life peers". BBC News. 8 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  10. ^ "No. 61081". The London Gazette. 18 December 2014. p. 24538.
  11. ^ "Lord Hay of Ballyore profile". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. ^ a b 'Willie Hay campaign for British passport cited as DUP try to improve citizenship path for Donegal unionists' (The Derry Journal, 29 January 2024). https://www.derryjournal.com/news/politics/willie-hay-campaign-for-british-passport-cited-as-dup-try-to-improve-citizenship-path-for-donegal-unionists-4496503
  13. ^ 'Willie Hay asks about British Passports for Donegal unionists as British move to ease citizenship route for Hong Kongese' (The Derry Journal, 31 March 2023). https://www.derryjournal.com/news/politics/willie-hay-asks-about-british-passports-for-donegal-unuonists-as-british-move-to-ease-citizenship-route-for-hong-kongese-4087070
  14. ^ "Irish-born DUP peer criticises Home Office's UK citizenship rules". The Guardian. 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  15. ^ Stephen Walker (14 April 2021). "Lord Hay: DUP peer 'discriminated' against in passport quest". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Lord Hay: DUP peer to get British passport after battle". 26 January 2024.
[edit]
Civic offices
Preceded by Mayor of Derry
1992–1993 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
2007–2014 		Succeeded by
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly Assembly Member for Foyle
1998–2014 		Succeeded by
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Haye of Ballyore 		Followed by
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