A one-off documentary focused on the day job of Belfast’s youngest Lord Mayor Niall Ó’Donnghaile, which was filmed all over Belfast over the course of a year, will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland on November 5.
The film follows controversial Sinn Féin politician Niall Ó’Donnghaile, who was elected Lord Mayor of Belfast when he was just 25 in 2011, as he deals with the ups and downs of being the Lord Mayor of one of the most renowned cities in Europe.
Director Richard Weller, an Englishman who has lived and worked in Northern Ireland for the last six years, followed Ó’Donnghaile on official duties such as the MTV EMA Awards, which were held in Belfast in November 2011, and the Titanic centenary celebrations last March.
Weller, who directed for Down-based Waddell Media for the BBC Northern Ireland project, said he wanted to capture what a day in the life of one of the youngest politicians in Northern Ireland was really like, and how Ó’Donnghaile’s youth would affect his position as an authoritative figure in Belfast.
“I wanted to find out how a young man would cope with the pressures of such a high profile job. Would his youth be an advantage, a chance to do things differently, a chance to be less fearless? Or would he be sucked into the familiar tribal politics that we have grown used to and seem unable to shake off? Having only a rudimentary grasp of Northern Irish politics allowed me to ask the basic questions other people are not stupid enough to ask,” said Weller.
Weller produced and shot the documentary, with David Cumming the executive producer for Waddell. John Martin was the offline editor in post-production, with Clare O’Doherty assisting in the post-production.
Some of the more contentious decisions made by Ó’Donnghaile during his short time in office are also captured by the production team, such as his removal of royal portraits from the Lord Mayor’s Parlour in City Hall and replacing them with a copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and his refusal to attend an award-giving ceremony where an army cadet was receiving a Duke of Edinburgh Award.
In quotes released by BBC Northern Ireland, Niall Ó’Donnghaile says in the film: “Some people have a problem with a republican mayor. They don’t get it and they never want to see it.”
‘The Belfast Mayor – A Year in Chains’ will air at 10.35pm on Monday November 5 on BBC One Northern Ireland.
