Matthew John O'Toole is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician, former civil servant, and journalist who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Belfast South constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly since January 2020. He is the current Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Born in Belfast, O'Toole grew up in Downpatrick and read for an MA in International Relations and English at the University of St Andrews.
Prior to serving as an MLA, O'Toole worked as a journalist, and as a civil servant at HM Treasury and in 10 Downing Street. At Downing Street, O'Toole worked on the 2016 EU referendum and its aftermath. On leaving the civil service, O'Toole wrote widely on Brexit, its impact on Northern Ireland, and British-Irish relations. His writing has appeared in the Irish Times, Guardian, Financial Times, Politico, New Statesman and elsewhere. From 2017 to 2020, he was a senior consultant at Powerscourt, a communications consultancy based in London.
