S6E11: Máirtín Ó Muilleoir: Building Bridges in Belfast, to Belfast

Irish Stew Podcast

In New York for the annual New York New Belfast Conference, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir swung by the Irish Stew Global Headquarters for a transatlantic conversation with co-host John Lee.
In this episode, the Belfast Media Group and Irish Echo publisher tells of growing up during The Troubles, watching gun battles on his Belfast street, his move into politics, the less-than-warm reception he got as a Sinn Féin Belfast City Councillor, the superpower he discovered during his eventful year as the Lord Mayor of Belfast, and his tireless efforts to reach across divides, connect communities, and build bridges.
“When I had to reach out to the other side--sometimes that was tough--but every time I did I was met halfway--not 50 percent of the time, not 70 percent--every time,“ he says. “Every initiative we did reaching out to the Protestant or Unionist people, they responded with generosity and grace.”
He reflects on personal challenges, the conundrum he found waiting for him in the Lord Mayor’s office, his fondest memory from his one-year term, the electricity in the air of the new Belfast, the ongoing need for social justice, the imperative to grow economic opportunity, the indispensable contributions of Irish America, and reason the Northern Ireland Hospice earned his “Seamus Plug,”
And you’ll hear the curious story behind the remarkable Robert Ballagh portrait of him that broke the mold in the “Dome of Delight.”
Links
Social Media

• Twitter/X
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

Business Interests

• Belfast Media Group
• Irish Echo
• Aisling Events

Seamus Plug

• Northern Ireland Hospice

Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. A Portrait in Purple (00:02:52)

3. People Based Politics (00:06:15)

4. Reaching Out and Meeting Half Way (00:09:03)

5. Finding Common Ground (00:13:33)

6. Looking at Irish America (00:16:09)

7. Bridging Belfast and New York CIty (00:19:16)

8. Belfast Challenges and Forward Movement (00:23:33)

9. Selling Belfast: Business, Peace, and Tourism (00:27:55)

10. Stabilizing Northern Ireland Politics (00:34:44)

11. Power, Symbolism and Gestures in Belfast (00:38:24)

12. Unionism and WWI Commemorations (00:45:49)

13. Engaging with the Republic of Ireland (00:49:01)

14. Forging Belfast Links in America (00:51:53)

15. Seamus Plug (00:54:23)

16. Credits (00:57:26)