Nepo north? One-third of co-opted MLAs had family ties
There are stricter hiring rules for junior political jobs than for appointing MLAs
Over one-third of Stormont politicians appointed without a public vote had family connections to politics.
Since 2017, 38 people have been appointed to Stormont, without a public vote, in a process known as co-option. This is used to replace deceased or resigning MLAs.
Of the 38 MLAs, 13 are family members or partners of current or former elected politicians.
Overall, 1 in 5 NI politicians have family connections to politics.
Of 108 MLAs and MPs, 25 have a family member or partner who was or is a councillor, an MP, or an MLA.
The DUP tops the table, with 8 of their 25 MLAs having a parent or spouse who was an elected representative.
Family in high places
The family ties are especially concentrated at the top of northern politics.
The Assembly speaker, Edwin Poots, is part of Northern Ireland’s only known three-generation electoral dynasty, which includes his DUP founder father Charles Poots, disgraced ex-councillor son Luke Poots, and current councillor nephew Caleb McCready.
Meanwhile, First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s family is described as “prominent in the civil rights movement”. She is the daughter of Sinn Féin Dungannon councillor and IRA prisoner Basil Doris.
Emma Little Pengelly has no known direct family ties to electoral politics, but she is the daughter of Noel Little, a member of the UDR, and a member of the paramilitary Ulster Resistance (which was led by senior DUP figures like Peter Robinson and Ian Paisley). She is also the wife of Richard Pengelly, the chief executive of the Education Authority as of April 2024.
Claire Hanna is the daughter of Carmel Hanna, who was once an SDLP universities minister, and Eamon Hanna, a former SDLP general secretary. Her husband is Donal Lyons, an SDLP councillor in Belfast. Matthew O’Toole, the SDLP’s Assembly leader, is the cousin of fellow MLA Mark H. Durkan and the nephew of former SDLP leader Mark Durkan.
While no Alliance MLAs are known to have parents, children or siblings in politics, 6 of Alliance’s 17 MLAs have partners who are current or former councillors.
Naomi Long’s husband, Michael, leads the Alliance council group in Belfast. MLA Nuala McAllister and councillor Sam Nelson actually met while both were working for the party. Uniquely, Alliance MLA Sian Mulholland’s husband, Kieran, is a former Sinn Féin councillor.
Family members appointed to seats
Twice in 2022, a spouse was been co-opted to replace an Alliance councillor that had been elected to Stormont: Sam Nelson replaced Nuala McAllister in Belfast’s Castle area, and Maeve Donnelly replaced Danny Donnelly in the Larne Lough area.
In fact, of the 22 MLAs with a family or partner tie to electoral politics, 12 have been co-opted at some point in their political careers.
Parties usually have processes to decide who gets co-opted. These usually involve candidates getting central approval, from party officers and/or a party executive, and being selected by members in the local association.
Yet it is often MLAs and councillors that have a vote on who is on the party executive and who gets to be a party officer - meaning party executives and party officers are picking some of those who get to pick them.
Family ties in local councils
MPs and MLAs aside, many councillors also have family and spousal connections.
Alliance’s Andrew McAuley was co-opted in the Airport area near Antrim to replace his wife, Vikki McAuley, who was stepping back from council. And at one point, current Alliance councillor Christine Bower was serving as a North Down councillor alongside her husband Michael.
Sinn Féin councillor Paul Duffy’s father, Joe, was an “independent nationalist community candidate”, elected in 1997, while the party’s Titanic councillor Pádraig Donnelly is a cousin of retired senator Niall Ó Donnghaile - both are cousins of the party’s Black Mountain councillor Róis-Maire Donnelly.
Other such examples exist in Sinn Féin - former Causeway Coast and Glens mayor Seán Bateson is a nephew of former Magherafelt councillor and ex-prisoner Peter Bateson, while the former Mid Ulster council chair, Dominic Molloy, is the son of former Mid Ulster MP Francie Molloy.
Following the election of the UUP’s John Stewart to the Assembly, his father Robin was co-opted to his council seat. And on top of the political connection between the two, John worked as a sales director in Robin’s family shoemaking business earlier in his career.
Over in Derry and Strabane, the Derg DEA is notable as a majority of its councillors have family ties to other Tyrone politicians.
The UUP’s Derek Hussey is the brother of former UUP MLA Ross Hussey. Sinn Féin’s Ruairí McHugh was co-opted to replace his father Charlie on Strabane District Council, and has held the seat since. And the DUP’s Keith Kerrigan has been described as a ‘distant relative’ of the previous DUP councillor Thomas Kerrigan.
One of two independent councillors in Strabane, Raymond Barr, is the brother of Strabane Sinn Féin councillor Ivan Barr. Ivan represented the area until his death in 2008.
Julie Middleton, a DUP alderman in the Faughan area, is the wife of Gary Middleton, the DUP’s Foyle MLA. Over in Waterside, the UUP’s Darren Guy was the first son of a deputy mayor of Derry to himself become deputy mayor of Derry (and Strabane).
Derry and Strabane Mayor Lilian Seenoi-Barr is the only known instance of an inter-continental political connection in the north. Her sibling, Ledama Olekina, is a senator in Kenya.
In total, nearly a fifth of Derry and Strabane councillors have family or spousal political ties of some form.
One rule for MLAs, another for constituency workers
There is no automatic suggestion of wrongdoing among those who get into politics after a family member or spouse does.
Some family ties are ‘distant’ - as with Keith Kerrigan and Thomas Kerrigan in Derg.
In some cases, those with family ties aren’t reaping a benefit from any hierarchy. Raymond Barr became a councillor over 10 years after his brother died, and he has won two terms in council as an independent, without Sinn Féin backing. That is no mean feat.
Likewise, it’s hard to argue that Lilian Seenoi-Barr has an unfair advantage in Derry politics by having a Kenyan senator in her family.
But some voters might look cynically upon John Stewart getting a job in his father Robin’s family business, only for Robin to get John’s old council seat in later years.
And many other council seats have gone from a father to a son, or from a husband to a wife, or vice versa, via the co-option mechanism - with party hierarchies deciding who fills a public office and takes public money, rather than the public.
Even Stormont politicians themselves have recognised that, when family are involved, there is a risk of hiring based on nepotism, not merit.
From 2016, MLAs were banned from employing more than one family member in their constituency offices.
Yet these jobs are often in the £20,000-£30,000 range, while there are no restrictions at all on who parties can co-opt to council and Assembly seats.
This is despite councillors drawing an allowance of over £17,000, plus more money for committee chairs, mayors, deputy mayors and so on. Being a councillor is a part-time role, intended to complement a full-time job. MLAs are on over £52,000, with more pay for committee chairs, ministers and other office-holders.
There are restrictions on constituency workers getting jobs via nepotism. Yet there are no such rules for their MLA bosses.
All Assembly political parties, and the independents Alex Easton and Claire Sugden, have been approached for comment, and asked whether they would support restrictions on political parties co-opting family members or spouses of public officeholders to such offices.
Full list of MLAs and MPs known to have family members, spouses or partners that were/are elected representatives
Normal type indicates serving MLAs and MPs.
Italics indicates former MLAs, who had been co-opted at some point after the 2017 Assembly election.
DUP - 8
Alan Robinson - son of George Robinson, former East Derry MLA
Harry Harvey - son of Cecil Harvey, former DUP MLA, originally co-opted
Diane Dodds - wife of Nigel Dodds, DUP Lord and former MP, co-opted in 2020
Edwin Poots - father of Lisburn DUP ex-councillor Luke Poots, son of DUP ex-councillor Charles Poots, uncle of Lisburn DUP councillor Caleb McCready, moved from Lagan Valley to Belfast South in 2022 via co-option to replace Christopher Stalford
Trevor Clarke - husband of Linda Clarke, DUP councillor
Stephen Dunne - son of Gordon Dunne, former DUP MLA, originally co-opted
Paul Givan - son of Alan Givan, DUP councillor; grandfather Herbie and his brothers Wallace and Cecil were ‘foundational’ DUP members, co-opted in 2010
Gary Middleton - husband of Ald Julie Middleton, DUP councillor in Derry, co-opted in 2015
Alliance - 6 (+1)
Paula Bradshaw - wife of Ian Parsley, former Alliance deputy mayor of North Down, who is currently employed in her office
Danny Donnelly - husband of Maeve Donnelly, who was co-opted to fill his council seat
Sian Mulholland - wife of Kieran Mulholland, former SF councillor, co-optee
Naomi Long - wife of Michael Long, Alliance group leader in Belfast, co-opted in 2020 after her European Parliament term
Nuala McAllister - partner of Sam Nelson, former party campaigns officer and Alliance councillor co-opted to fill her council seat
Connie Egan - partner of Peter McCully, Alliance councillor and former party campaigns officer
Máire Hendron - wife of Jim Hendron, Alliance Party founder and former Constitutional Convention representative - co-opted in 2019
Sinn Féin - 5 (+1)
Colm Gildernew - brother of Michelle Gildernew, former SF Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP, originally co-opted in 2017 to replace his sister
Michelle O’Neill - family ‘prominent in civil rights movement’, daughter of Basil Doris, Dungannon SF councillor and IRA ex-prisoner
Paul Maskey - brother of Alex Maskey, SF Assembly speaker
Órfhlaith Begley - daughter of Seán Begley, former SF council chair and SF director of elections in West Tyrone, ‘from a well-known Tyrone republican family’
John O’Dowd - husband of Mary O’Dowd, Lurgan SF councillor
Martina Anderson - sister of Peter, a former Sinn Féin councillor, and aunt of Elisha McCallion, former Derry and Strabane Mayor, Foyle MP and Senator - co-opted 2020
SDLP - 3
Mark H. Durkan - nephew of Mark Durkan, former SDLP leader and Foyle MP
Matthew O’Toole - cousin of Mark H. Durkan and nephew of Mark Durkan
Claire Hanna - daughter of Carmel Hanna, former SDLP universities minister, and Eamon Hanna, former SDLP general secretary, and wife of Donal Lyons, SDLP Belfast councillor
UUP - 2
Diana Armstrong - daughter of Harry West, former UUP leader and MP (whose nephew is James Cooper, UUP chair 2003-05 and Fermanagh and South Tyrone candidate in 2001); co-opted in 2024
John Stewart - son of Robin Stewart, who filled his council seat in 2017, and who employed John as sales director in the family business Robinson’s Shoemakers
TUV - 1
Timothy Gaston - son of Sam Gaston, former DUP councillor who later joined the TUV - co-opted in 2024
Corrections
This article was amended at 11:27pm Wednesday 9th October, to add that Matthew O’Toole is the cousin of Mark H. Durkan and the nephew of Mark Durkan. Additionally, Richard Pengelly’s occupation was stated as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Justice - but in fact, he left that position to become the chief executive of the Education Aurhority in April 2024.
This article was further amended at 6:49pm Friday 11th October, to add further examples of politicians with family ties in Sinn Féin.