| Declan Kearney | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MLA |
| Office: | Junior Minister Assisting the Deputy First Minister |
| 1Blankname: | Deputy FM |
| 1Namedata: | Michelle O'Neill |
| Term Start: | 11 January 2020 |
| Term End: | 5 May 2022 |
| Alongside: | Gordon Lyons, Gary Middleton |
| Predecessor: | Megan Fearon |
| Successor: | Pam Cameron (2024) |
| Office1: | Member of the Legislative Assembly for South Antrim |
| Term Start1: | 5 May 2016 |
| Predecessor1: | Mitchel McLaughlin |
| Birth Date: | 1964 12, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Party: | Sinn Féin |
Declan Kearney (born 19 December 1964) is an Irish republican politician in Northern Ireland who is the current National Chairman of Sinn Féin.[1] Kearney was a Junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2020 to 2022, and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim since 2016.[2]
Originally from Antrim, he is the son of Oliver and Brigid (née Totten) Kearney.[2] He lived in Derry at the time of his election.[3] [2]
Before his election as an MLA, Kearney served as National Chairman of Sinn Féin, in which capacity he apologised "for all the lives lost during the Troubles".[4] His brother, Ciarán Kearney, husband of Jane (née Donaldson), is the son-in-law of the late Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and Sinn Féin politician Denis Donaldson, who was assassinated near Glenties in County Donegal after having been exposed as a British agent.[5]
Kearney was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as one of six MLAs for South Antrim at the 2016 Assembly election,[6] retaining his seat at the 2017 and 2022 elections.[7]
He was later appointed as a Junior Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, following the restoration of the Assembly in January 2020;[8] remaining in this position until May 2022.[9]