Quick Facts
AriesBiography
William Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore (called Willie; born 16 April 1950, Milford, County Donegal, Republic of Ireland) is a Northern Irish politician, and Irish citizen.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.
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.
He is an Irish citizen with an Irish passport to avoid having to pay an £860 UK naturalisation fee required for people, such as him, born in the Republic of Ireland after 1946.
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.
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, later than usual for a peerage to be gazetted, and took the title Baron Hay of Ballyore, of Ballyore in the City of Londonderry. He subsequently sat as a DUP member.
