Hay was elected to
Londonderry City Council in
Northern Ireland in 1981 for the
Democratic Unionist Party. He served as Mayor in 1993 and Deputy Mayor in 1992. In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the
Northern Ireland Forum election in
Foyle., but was elected to the
Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998. He is a member of the Northern Ireland Housing Council and the
Londonderry Port and Harbour Commission. and in 2001 became a member of the
Northern Ireland Policing Board. Hay was elected
Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007 following the restoration of devolution. He also is a prominent member of the
Orange Order and
Apprentice Boys of Derry. On 6 October 2014, Hay announced his retirement from the Northern Ireland Assembly as both MLA and Speaker. The role of the Speaker had been taken on by
Mitchel McLaughlin in a temporary capacity in September 2014 because of Hay's ill health. However, in a letter read to the Assembly, he announced his retirement from the Assembly effective from 13 October 2014 in order to concentrate on returning to good health. In August 2014, it was announced that he would get a
life peerage to sit in the
House of Lords and he opted to sit there as a
crossbencher, despite being nominated by DUP. Hay was ennobled on 16 December 2014 and took the title
Baron Hay of Ballyore,
of Ballyore in the City of Londonderry. He subsequently sat as a DUP member. ==Nationality==