THE LEADER OF the Green Party in Northern Ireland, who was recently elected to the Seanad, has announced he is running for a Westminster seat at the upcoming UK general election.

In March, Mal O’Hara was elected unopposed to a Seanad seat that had been vacated by former Belfast councillor and Sinn Féin member Niall Ó Donnghaile, who left the Seanad due to ill health.

O’Hara has been the Green Party’s leader in the North since 2022 and formally took up his seat on 8 April.

In a statement at the time, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said O’Hara will bring a “unique all-island perspective” to the Seanad.

Meanwhile, O’Hara said that it was important a “Northern Ireland voice remains” in the Seanad following Ó Donnghaile’s departure.

“I will ensure that all voices from Northern Ireland are amplified in the Seanad,” added O’Hara in a statement in March.

He has since been nominated by the Green Party of Northern Ireland to contest the upcoming UK general election in North Belfast.

The election will be held on Thursday, 4 July.

The current MP for North Belfast is Sinn Féin’s John Finucane.

The DUP’s Nigel Dodds, now a member of the UK’s House of Lords, held the seat prior to Finucane’s election win in December 2019.