North Antrim - Daithí McKay

Daithí McKay is currently the Head of the Sinn Féin Council Grouping on Ballymoney Council. McKay is the youngest Sinn Féin Councillor in the north, at 24 years of age, and has been a Sinn Féin member for 6 years. Within the party in North Antrim he has been the Director of Publicity for the past 5 years and acted as a Political Advisor to Philip McGuigan after he was elected to the Assembly in 2003. Daithí has also acted as an Advisor to Ballymena's first Sinn Féin Councillor Monica Digney and he has been in charge of dealing with Equality issues that arise within both Ballymena and Ballymoney Councils.

Daithí was born in Ballymena and raised in Rasharkin where he attended St Patrick's Primary School. He continued his education at St. Louis' Grammar in Ballymena before he went on to take up a post within the Ulster Bank in Belfast. He has been involved in Aid work in the Palestinian West Bank as well as in Central America and has represented the party in both the Basque Country and Kurdistan where he spoke to audiences about the Irish Peace Process.

After taking up a post as a Sinn Féin Political Advisor in Stormont, Daithí became the party's All-Ireland coordinator for Tourism and, along with Philip McGuigan, spearheaded the campaign to have the Ulster Canal reopened which, if implemented, would connect the River Bann to Ireland's canal network. Daithí is currently the party's representative on the Fire & Rescue Service Board and has been fully supportive of local firefighters in Ballycastle and Ballymoney where second fire appliances are currently being reviewed for possible removal.