Willie Hay, Baron Hay of Ballyore

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Hay of Ballyore
Official portrait of Lord Hay of Ballyore 2020 crop 2.jpg
Hay in 2020
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
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
Personal details
Born (1950-04-16) 16 April 1950 (age 71)
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 (called Willie;[2] born 16 April 1950, in 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.[3]

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.,[4] 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.[5] 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[6] 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.[7][8][9]

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.[10] Hay was ennobled on 16 December 2014 and took the title Baron Hay of Ballyore, of Ballyore in the City of Londonderry.[11] He subsequently sat as a DUP member.[12]

Nationality[]

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

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 wish to become a British citizen.[13] "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.[14]

See also[]

References[]

  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. ^ Hay returned as NI Assembly speaker Archived 17 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine & Belfast Telegraph — Willie Hay to retire Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 8 April 2018)
  3. ^ "- 'DUP man not allowed British passport' - Belfast Telegraph, 20 June 2018". Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Northern Ireland elections". Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  5. ^ Personnel Archived 4 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ "Assembly Speaker to stand down". Belfast Telegraph. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  9. ^ "William Hay retires as Speaker of Assembly". Newsletter. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ "No. 61081". The London Gazette. 18 December 2014. p. 24538.
  12. ^ "Lord Hay of Ballyore profile". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ Stephen Walker (14 April 2021). "Lord Hay: DUP peer 'discriminated' against in passport quest". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021.

External links[]

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
The Lord Kerslake
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