The Northern Ireland Assembly (Irish: Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann,Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlan Assemblie) is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.

The latest incarnation of the Assembly was established under the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, an accord aimed at bringing an end to Northern Ireland's violent 30-year Troubles. It is based on the principle of power-sharing under the D'Hondt method to ensure that Northern Ireland's largest political communities, the unionist and nationalist communities both participate in governing the region. The Assembly is a unicameral, democratically elected body comprising 108 members who are known as Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. Members are elected under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation.

Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann pronounced [ˈt̪ˠuəʃcəɾˠt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ] ( listen), Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann or Norlin Airlan) is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. As of 2001, its population was 1,685,000, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Northern Ireland is largely self-governing. According to the agreement, Northern Ireland co-operates with the rest of Ireland – from which it was partitioned in 1921 — on some policy areas, while other areas are reserved for the Government of the United Kingdom, though the Republic of Ireland "may put forward views and proposals".

Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter inter-communal conflict — the Troubles — which was caused by divisions between nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and unionists, who are predominantly Protestant. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain as a part of the United Kingdom, and generally see themselves as British, while nationalists wish for it to be politically reunited with the rest of Ireland, independent of British rule, and generally see themselves as Irish. Additionally, people from both sides of the community may describe themselves as Northern Irish. Since 1998, most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their armed campaigns.

Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8

Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.

Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.

Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.

Tom Elliott MLA (born 11 December 1963) is a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist MLA, the former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and a former UDR member. He beat Basil McCrea 643 votes to 296 in a leadership contest after the 2010 UK general election. In March 2012 he announced his intention to quit as leader and on 31 March was replaced by Mike Nesbitt.

Elliott was educated at Ballinamallard Primary School and Duke of Westminster High School, Ballinamallard & Kesh before attending the Enniskillen College of Agriculture where he earned a College Certificate in Agriculture.^{[citation needed]}

Elliott has been an activist in the Ballinamallard Ward Ulster Unionist committee for many years and is Chairman of that committee. He has also benn Honorary Secretary of the Fermanagh Divisional Unionist Association since 1998 and was Chairman of the internal Ulster Unionist ad-hoc Review Group for its duration.

Elliott was the election agent for James Cooper in 2001 Westminster campaign and in June of the same year was elected an Ulster Unionist Councillor on Fermanagh District Council representing Erne North. He was re-elected May 2005 but resigned to allow a Co-option in August 2010. In November 2003 he was elected as a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly representing Fermanagh & South Tyrone, a position to which he was re-elected in March 2007 and May 2011. In this role he served as Ulster Unionist Assembly spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Currently Vice Chair of the Agricultural Committee in Stormont and also sits as a member of the Committee of the Office of the First and deputy First Minister.

Michael Nesbitt MLA (born 11 May 1957, Belfast) is Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and former broadcaster from Northern Ireland. He is married to broadcaster, and former on-screen colleague, Lynda Bryans.

Nesbitt worked as a sports reporter at BBC Northern Ireland and progressed to presenting Good Morning Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster from 1986 to 1990. Nesbitt joined UTV as a presenter and reporter in 1992, being joined by his wife Bryans to co-present evening news programme UTV Live in 1996.

Nesbitt and Bryans also co-presented weekly religious series Sunday Morning for Anglia Television from 1999 to 2001, and two series of home and garden series Home Sweet Home for UTV.

Nesbitt also hosted Counterpoint and made a guest appearance in comedy programme Everything You Know Is Wrong in 1998.

In 2006, Nesbitt announced he was not renewing his presenting contract with UTV. His final edition of UTV Live was broadcast on 10 February 2006.

In January 2008, Nesbitt was announced as a Commissioner of Victims and Survivors, a Northern Ireland Assembly role designed to promote the interests of victims of the Troubles.