Northern Ireland Assembly

For earlier bodies of the same name, see Northern Ireland Assembly (disambiguation).

Northern Ireland Assembly Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann Norlin Airlan Assemblie
Sixth Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Robin Newton, DUP Since 12 May 2016
Structure
Seats	90
Assembly political groups	DUP (28) (U)      Sinn Féin (27) (N)      SDLP (12) (N)      UUP (10) (U)      Alliance (8) (O)      Green (2) (O)      PBP (1) (O)      TUV (1) (U)      Independent (1) (U)
Assembly committees	16 Executive Office Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Communities Economy Education Finance Health Infrastructure Justice Assembly and Executive Review Committee Audit Committee Business Committee Procedures Committee Public Accounts Committee Standards and Privileges Committee
Salary	£48,000 per year + expenses
Elections
Assembly last election	2 March 2017
Assembly next election	5 May 2022 or earlier
Meeting place
Assembly Chamber
Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast
Website
www.niassembly.gov.uk

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 Assembly is one of two "mutually inter-dependent" institutions created under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the other being the North/South Ministerial Council with the Republic of Ireland. The Agreement aimed at bringing an end to Northern Ireland's violent 30-year Troubles. The Assembly is a unicameral, democratically elected body comprising 90 members known as Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs. Members are elected under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation. In turn, the Assembly selects most of the ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive using the principle of power-sharing under the D'Hondt method to ensure that Northern Ireland's largest voting blocs, unionists and Irish nationalists, both participate in governing the region.

The Assembly has been suspended on several occasions, the longest suspension being from 14 October 2002 until 7 May 2007. When the Assembly was suspended, its powers reverted to the Northern Ireland Office. Following talks that resulted in the St Andrews Agreement being accepted in November 2006, an election to the Assembly was held on 7 March 2007 and full power was restored to the devolved institutions on 8 May 2007.

Powers in relation to policing and justice were transferred to the Assembly on 12 April 2010. The third assembly was dissolved on 24 March 2011 in preparation for the elections to be held on Thursday 5 May 2011. This was the first assembly since the Good Friday Agreement to complete a full term. This was followed by a full fourth term. After the May 2016 elections, the Assembly convened for a fifth term. That assembly dissolved on 26 January 2017, and a fresh election for a reduced Assembly was held on 2 March 2017.

History

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Good Friday Agreement

Strand 1
Northern Ireland Assembly
Strand 2
North/South Ministerial Council
Strand 3
British–Irish Council British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference
Additional bodies
British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association North/South Consultative Forum

Previous legislatures

From 7 June 1921 until 30 March 1972, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland was the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which always had an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) majority and always elected a UUP government. The Parliament was suspended on 30 March 1972 and formally abolished in 1973 under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.

Shortly after this first parliament was abolished, attempts began to restore devolution on a new basis that would see power shared between Irish nationalists and unionists. To this end a new parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established in 1973. However, this body was brought down by the Ulster Workers' Council strike and was abolished in 1974. In 1982 another Northern Ireland Assembly was established at Stormont, initially as a body to scrutinise the actions of the Secretary of State, the British minister with responsibility for Northern Ireland. It received little support from Irish nationalists and was officially dissolved in 1986.

Current assembly and suspensions

The current incarnation of the Northern Ireland Assembly was first elected on 25 June 1998 and first met on 1 July 1998. However, it only existed in "shadow" form until 2 December 1999 when full powers were devolved to the Assembly. Since then the Assembly has operated intermittently and has been suspended on four occasions:

• 11 February – 30 May 2000
• 10 August 2001 (24-hour suspension)
• 22 September 2001 (24-hour suspension)
• 14 October 2002 – 7 May 2007

Attempts to secure its operation on a permanent basis had been frustrated by disagreements between the two main unionist parties (the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party) and Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party. Unionists refused to participate in the Good Friday Agreement's institutions alongside Sinn Féin until they were assured that the IRA had discontinued its activities, decommissioned its arms and disbanded.

The most recent suspension occurred after unionists withdrew from the Northern Ireland Executive after Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont were raided by the police, who were investigating allegations of intelligence gathering on behalf of the IRA by members of the party's support staff. The Assembly, already suspended, dissolved on 28 April 2003 as scheduled, but the elections due the following month were postponed by the United Kingdom government and were not held until November that year.

On 8 December 2005, three Belfast men at the centre of the alleged IRA spying incident (dubbed "Stormontgate") were acquitted of all charges. The prosecution offered no evidence "in the public interest". Afterwards Denis Donaldson, one of those arrested, said that the charges "should never have been brought" as the police action was "political". On 17 December 2005, Donaldson publicly confirmed that he had been a spy for British intelligence since the early 1980s. Mr Donaldson was killed on 4 April 2006 by the Real IRA.

"The Assembly" and "the Transitional Assembly"

"The Assembly established under the Northern Ireland Act 2006"

Although the Assembly remained suspended from 2002 until 2007, the persons elected to it at the 2003 Assembly election were called together on 15 May 2006 under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 to meet in an assembly to be known as "the Assembly" (or fully "the Assembly established under the Northern Ireland Act 2006") for the purpose of electing a First Minister and Deputy First Minister and choosing the members of an Executive before 25 November 2006 as a preliminary to the restoration of devolved government.

On 23 May 2006 Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused Sinn Féin's nomination to be First Minister alongside Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, as Deputy First Minister. Eileen Bell was appointed by the Secretary of State Peter Hain to be the Speaker of the Assembly, with Francie Molloy and Jim Wells acting as deputies. The Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 repealed the Northern Ireland Act 2006 and thus disbanded "the Assembly".

"The Transitional Assembly"

The Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 provided for a "Transitional Assembly" (or fully "the Transitional Assembly established under the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006") to take part in preparations for the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland. A person who was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly was also a member of the Transitional Assembly. Eileen Bell was Speaker of the Transitional Assembly and Francie Molloy and Jim Wells continued as deputies. The Transitional Assembly first met on 24 November 2006, when the proceedings were suspended due to a bomb threat by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone. It was dissolved on 30 January 2007 when the election campaign for the current Northern Ireland Assembly started.

An election to the then-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly was held on 7 March 2007. Secretary of State, Peter Hain signed a restoration order on 25 March 2007 allowing for the restoration of devolution at midnight on the following day. The two largest parties following the election, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, agreed to enter power-sharing government together, and an administration was eventually established on 10 May with Ian Paisley as First Minister and Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.

Composition

The Assembly's composition and powers are laid down in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

The Assembly initially had 108 members (MLAs) elected from 18 six-member constituencies on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Under the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 the number of MLAs per constituency was reduced from 6 to 5, leaving a total of 90 seats. This took effect at the March 2017 election.

The constituencies used are the same as those used for elections to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster. With the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the number of constituencies will be reduced from 18 to 17. The changes will result in a decrease of the number of MLAs from 90 to 85 in 2021.

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that, unless the Assembly is dissolved early, elections should occur once every four years on the first Thursday in May, although this is likely to change to bring the Assembly into line with electoral arrangements in other parts of the United Kingdom. The second election to the Assembly was delayed by the UK government until 26 November 2003. The Assembly is dissolved shortly before the holding of elections on a day chosen by the Secretary of State. After each election the Assembly must meet within eight days. The Assembly can vote to dissolve itself early by a two-thirds majority of the total number of its members. It is also automatically dissolved if it is unable to elect a First Minister and deputy First Minister (effectively joint first ministers, the only distinction being in the titles) within six weeks of its first meeting or of those positions becoming vacant. There have been six elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998.

Each MLA is free to designate themselves as "nationalist", "unionist", or "other", as they see fit, the only requirement being that no member may change their designation more than once during an Assembly session. The system has been criticised by some, in particular the cross-community Alliance Party, as entrenching sectarian divisions. Alliance supports ending the official designation of identity requirement and the taking of important votes on the basis of an ordinary super-majority, as does the largest unionist party, the DUP.

Proportion of seats obtained at each election to the Northern Ireland Assembly by those members designated as Unionist, those members designated as Nationalist and those members designated as Other.

Participating parties

Alongside independents, a total of 15 parties have held seats in the Assembly since 1998:

• Ulster Unionist Party
• Democratic Unionist Party
• Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Sinn Féin
• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
• Progressive Unionist Party
• Green Party in Northern Ireland
• United Kingdom Independence Party
• Traditional Unionist Voice
• People Before Profit Alliance
• NI21
• United Unionist Coalition
• United Kingdom Unionist Party
• Northern Ireland Unionist Party
• Northern Ireland Women's Coalition

Their historical seat possessions are given in the table below.

Composition of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Body	Date	Event	Seats	Party
				Speaker	Ind. N	Ind. O	Ind. U	UUP (U)	DUP (U)	SDLP (N)	SF (N)	Alli. (O)	PUP (U)	Gre. (O)	UKIP (U)	TUV (U)	PBPA (O)	NI21 (U)	UUC (U)	UKUP (U)	NIUP (U)	NIWC (O)	Vacant
1st Assembly	1998 Jun 25	election	108
				t	0	0	3	28	20	24	18	6	2	0	n	n	n	n	n	5	n	2	0
	1998 Jul 1	commencement	108	Alliance	0	0	3	28⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	n	5	n	2	0
	1998 Sep 21	party formation	108	"	0	0	0	28⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	5	n	2	0
	1999 Jan 4	resignation from party	108	"	0	0	4	28⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	n	2	0
	1999 Mar 24	party formation	108	"	0	0	0	28⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	4	2	0
	1999 Dec 1	expulsion from party	108	"	0	0	1	28⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2001 Nov 9	expulsion from party	108	"	0	0	2	27⬢	20⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2002 Apr 1	accession to party	108	"	0	0	1	27⬢	21⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2002 Apr 30	accession to party	108	"	0	0	0	27⬢	22⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2002 Nov 11	resignation from party	108	"	0	0	1	27⬢	21⬢	24⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2003 Apr 1	resignation from party	108	"	1	0	1	27⬢	21⬢	23⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
	2003	resignation from party	108	"	1	0	2	27⬢	20⬢	23⬢	18⬢	5	2	0	n	n	n	n	3	1	3	2	0
2nd Assembly	2003 Nov 26	election	108
				t	0	0	1	27	30	18	24	6	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	0
	2003 Dec 18	resignation from party	108	t	0	0	4	24	30	18	24	6	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	0
	2004 Jan 5	accession to party	108	t	0	0	1	24	33	18	24	6	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	0
	2005 Jul 4	suspension from party	108	t	0	0	2	24	32	18	24	6	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	0
	2006 Apr 10	speaker appointment	108	Alliance	0	0	2	24	32	18	24	5	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	0
	2006 Sep 25	death	108	"	0	0	2	24	32	18	23	5	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	1
	2007 Jan 15	resignation from party	108	"	0	1	2	24	32	18	22	5	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	1
	2007 Feb 2	resignation from party	108	"	1	1	2	24	32	18	21	5	1	0	n	n	n	n	0	1	0	0	1
3rd Assembly	2007 Mar 7	election	108
				t	0	1	0	18	36	16	28	7	1	1	0	n	n	n	0	0	0	x	0
	2007 May 8	commencement	108	DUP	0	1	0	18⬢	35⬢	16⬢	28⬢	7	1	1	0	n	n	n	0	0	0	x	0
	2007 Nov 29	resignation from party	108	"	1	1	0	18⬢	35⬢	16⬢	27⬢	7	1	1	0	n	n	n	0	0	0	x	0
	2010 Mar 31	resignation from party	108	"	1	1	1	17⬢	35⬢	16⬢	27⬢	7	1	1	0	n	n	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2010 Apr 12	accession to executive	108	"	1	1	1	17⬢	35⬢	16⬢	27⬢	7⬢	1	1	0	n	n	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2010 Jun 3	resignation from party	108	"	1	1	2	17⬢	35⬢	16⬢	27⬢	7⬢	0	1	0	n	n	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2011 Jan 3	resignation from party	108	"	1	1	3	16⬢	35⬢	16⬢	27⬢	7⬢	0	1	0	n	n	n	0	x	x	x	0
4th Assembly	2011 May 5	election	108
				t	0	0	1	16	38	14	29	8	0	1	0	1	0	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2011 May 12	commencement	108	DUP	0	0	1	16⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	0	1	0	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2012 Jan 27	suspension from party	108	"	0	0	2	15⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	0	1	0	n	0	x	x	x	0
	2012 Oct 4	accession to party	108	"	0	0	1	15⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	n	x	x	x	x	0
	2013 Feb 14	resignation from party	108	"	0	0	2	14⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	n	x	x	x	x	0
	2013 Feb 15	resignation from party	108	"	0	0	3	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	n	x	x	x	x	0
	2013 Jun 6	party formation	108	"	0	0	1	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	2	x	x	x	x	0
	2014 Apr 18	independent death	108	"	0	0	0	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	2	x	x	x	x	1
	2014 May 6	independent co-option	108	"	0	0	1	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	2	x	x	x	x	0
	2014 Jul 3	resignation from party	108	"	0	0	2	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	1	x	x	x	x	0
	2014 Oct 13	retirement from speaker & seat	108	0	0	0	2	13⬢	37⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	1	x	x	x	x	1
	2014 Oct 20	co-option in party	108	0	0	0	2	13⬢	38⬢	14⬢	29⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	1	x	x	x	x	0
	2015 Jan 12	speaker appointment	108	Sinn F.	0	0	2	13⬢	38⬢	14⬢	28⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	1	x	x	x	x	0
	2015 Sep 1	resignation from executive	108	"	0	0	2	13	38⬢	14⬢	28⬢	8⬢	0	1	1	1	0	1	x	x	x	x	0
5th Assembly	2016 May 5	election	108
				t	0	0	1	16	38	12	28	8	0	2	0	1	2	x	x	x	x	x	0
	2016 May 12	commencement	108	DUP	0	0	1⬢	16⬡	37⬢	12⬡	28⬢	8	0	2	0	1	2	x	x	x	x	x	0
	2016 Dec 18	suspension from party	108	"	0	0	1⬢,1	16⬡	36⬢	12⬡	28⬢	8	0	2	0	1	2	x	x	x	x	x	0
6th Assembly	2017 Mar 2	election	90
				t	0	0	1	10	28	12	27	8	0	2	0	1	1	x	x	x	x	x	0
⬢ = Executive participant (Ministerial roles); ⬡ = official Oppposition; t = to be determined (Speaker); n = party not yet contesting/formed; x = party dissolved
Parties listed exclude those which have never held seats in the body; events exclude simple co-options within parties. Full lists of co-options can be viewed on the "Members of the nth NI Assembly" pages (links in first column).

Members of eight parties and one independent have been elected to the Sixth Assembly (2017).

Executive parties

Ministerial roles other than the First and deputy First Minister are primarily distributed among the parties by the D'Hondt method. In the First Assembly (1998-2003) the four largest parties (the UUP, SDLP, DUP and Sinn Féin) participated in the Executive. Following the suspension of devolution during the Second Assembly (2003-2007), the Third Assembly (2007-2011) saw those four parties resume government, joined in 2010 by Alliance when policing and justice was devolved (a position allocated by cross-community agreement rather than D'Hondt). This coalition continued in the Fourth Assembly (2011-2016) until 2015 when the UUP withdrew. In the Fifth Assembly (2016-2017) only the DUP, Sinn Féin and independent unionist Claire Sugden held executive posts. As of 30 March 2017, the Executive of the Sixth Assembly has yet to be formed.

Northern Ireland Executive

Portfolio		Minister	Party	Term
Executive Ministers
First Minister		Vacant	Vacant
deputy First Minister		Vacant	Vacant
Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs		Vacant	Vacant
Communities		Vacant	Vacant
Economy		Vacant	Vacant
Education		Vacant	Vacant
Finance		Vacant	Vacant
Health		Vacant	Vacant
Infrastructure		Vacant	Vacant
Justice		Vacant	Vacant
Also attending Executive meetings
Junior Minister (assisting the First Minister)		Vacant	Vacant
Junior Minister (assisting the deputy First Minister)		Vacant	Vacant

Opposition parties

Unlike the United Kingdom Parliament and the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament), the Assembly had no provision for an official opposition to hold governing parties to account until legislation was passed in 2015. A party may now enter official opposition if it gains nine or more seats, an opportunity qualified for and taken by the UUP and SDLP following the 2016 election. Even within the Executive, however, the parties (which have collectively held large majorities in the Assembly) have frequently voted against each other due to political and/or policy differences.

During the First Assembly (1998–2003), the non-Executive parties (thus in opposition) were as follows:

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (6 seats)
• UK Unionist Party (5 seats reduced to 1 from 1999)
• Northern Ireland Unionist Party (4 seats from 1999)
• Progressive Unionist Party (2 seats)
• Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (2 seats)

The above parties held 15 seats at their full strength. In the Second Assembly (2003–2007), the number of opposition MLAs was reduced to eight, from the following parties:

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (6 seats)
• UK Unionist Party (1 seat)
• Progressive Unionist Party (1 seat)

That number increased to nine at the 2007 Assembly election:

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (7 seats)
• Green Party in Northern Ireland (1 seat)
• Progressive Unionist Party (1 seat)

Alliance's accession to the Executive in 2010 left only the Green Party and Progressive Unionist Party as parties outside government.

The Fourth Assembly (2011-2015) saw several shifts of allegiance among members of the smaller parties. At the 2011 election, the PUP lost its single seat while the Traditional Unionist Voice gained one seat. In 2012 a UUP MLA, David McNarry, was expelled from the party and later joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP). In 2013, two UUP MLAs Basil McCrea and John McCallister left the party, after opposing the decision to have a joint unionist candidate in the Mid-Ulster by-election. They later formed a new party NI21, which McCallister subsequently left. The UUP withdrew from the Executive in September 2015, and so the 2011-2016 Assembly closed with an unofficial opposition consisting of the UUP (now with 14 seats), alongside now-independent unionist John McCallister and four minor parties with one seat each: NI21, Green Party, Traditional Unionist Voice and UKIP.

The first official opposition, forming after the 2016 election, comprised:

• Ulster Unionist Party (16 seats)
• Social Democratic and Labour Party (12 seats)

Alliance joined the UUP and SDLP in declining the Executive positions they were entitled to, joining three smaller parties in unofficial opposition:

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (8 seats)
• Green Party in Northern Ireland (2 seats)
• People Before Profit Alliance (2 seats)
• Traditional Unionist Voice (1 seat)

The SDLP, the UUP and Alliance have attained enough seats (12, 10 and 8, respectively) in the 2017 Assembly election to nominate ministers for one department each, following the D'Hondt system, provided the larger DUP and Sinn Féin can agree to form an Executive.

Co-options

Vacancies between Assembly elections are filled by co-option. A by-election is still available as an option if the nominated person cannot take his or her seat but none have been held.

The possibility of by-elections or co-options was established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998. In 2001, the Northern Ireland Office introduced a system of substitutes as the preferred option. Under a further change made in 2009, a political party leader directly nominates a new MLA if his or her party won that seat at the previous election. Independent MLAs can continue to use substitutes. The following MLAs have been co-opted to the Assembly to date:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Tom Hamilton (UUP, 22 January 2001; did not seek re-election)
• Raymond McCartney (Sinn Féin, 15 July 2004; elected 7 March 2007)
• Sue Ramsey (Sinn Féin, 29 November 2004; elected 7 March 2007)
• Marietta Farrell (SDLP, 9 January 2007; not re-elected)
• Dawn Purvis (PUP, 24 January 2007; elected 7 March 2007)
• Alastair Ross (DUP, 14 May 2007; elected 5 May 2011)
• Danny Kinahan (UUP, 9 June 2009; elected 5 May 2011)
• Billy Leonard (Sinn Féin, 7 January 2010; did not seek re-election)
• Jonathan Bell (DUP, 25 January 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Conall McDevitt (SDLP, 21 January 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Paul Givan (DUP, 10 June 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Paul Frew (DUP, 21 June 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Sydney Anderson (DUP, 1 July 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Paul Girvan (DUP, 1 July 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Chris Lyttle (Alliance, 5 July 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Simpson Gibson (DUP, 2 August 2010; did not seek re-election)
• William Humphrey (DUP, 13 September 2010; elected 5 May 2011)
• Pól Callaghan (SDLP, 15 November 2010; not re-elected)
• Pat Sheehan (Sinn Féin, 7 December 2010; elected 5 May 2011)

When Sinn Féin MLA Michael Ferguson died in September 2006, no substitutes were available. Sinn Féin was allowed to use his vote in the Assembly (despite his death) and no by-election was held. His seat remained vacant until the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election.

The lower house of the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann, uses the same single transferable vote system for elections as the Assembly but does allow by-elections to fill vacancies.

Powers and functions

The Assembly has both legislative powers and responsibility for electing the Northern Ireland Executive. The First and deputy First Ministers were initially elected on a cross-community vote, although this was changed in 2006 and they are now appointed as leaders of the largest and second largest Assembly 'block' (understood to mean 'Unionist', 'Nationalist' and 'Other'). However the remaining ministers are not elected but are chosen by the nominating officers of each party, each party being entitled to a share of ministerial positions roughly proportionate to its share of seats in the Assembly. The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as "transferred matters". These matters are not explicitly given in the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Rather they include any competence not explicitly retained by the Parliament at Westminster.

Powers reserved by Westminster are divided into "excepted matters", which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved matters", which may be transferred to the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future date. A list of transferred, reserved and excepted matters is given below.

While the Assembly was in suspension, its legislative powers were exercised by the UK Government, which governs through procedures at Westminster. Laws that would have normally been within the competence of the Assembly were passed by the UK Parliament in the form of Orders-in-Council rather than Acts of the Assembly.

Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly as with other subordinate legislatures are subject to judicial review. A law can be struck down if it is found to:

• exceed the competences of the Assembly;
• violate European Union law;
• violate the European Convention on Human Rights; or
• discriminate against individuals on the grounds of political opinion or religious belief.

Transferred matters

A transferred matter is defined as "any matter which is not an excepted or reserved matter". There is therefore no full listing of transferred matters but they have been grouped into the responsibilities of the Northern Ireland Executive ministers:

• Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
• Communities
• Economy
• Education
• Finance
• Health
• Infrastructure
• Justice
• First and deputy First Minister

Reserved matters

Reserved matters are outlined in Schedule 3 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998:

• Navigation (including merchant shipping)
• Civil aviation
• The foreshore, sea bed and subsoil and their natural resources
• Postal services
• Import and export controls, external trade
• National minimum wage
• Financial services
• Financial markets
• Intellectual property
• Units of measurement
• Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Internet services
• The National Lottery
• Xenotransplantation
• Surrogacy
• Human fertilisation and embryology
• Human genetics
• Consumer safety in relation to goods

Excepted matters

Excepted matters are outlined in Schedule 2 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998:

• The Crown
• Parliament
• International relations
• Defence
• Immigration and Nationality
• Taxation
• National insurance
• Elections
• Currency
• National security
• Nuclear energy
• Outer space
• Activities in Antarctica

Procedure

The Assembly has three primary mechanisms to ensure effective power-sharing:

• in appointing ministers to the Executive (except for the Minister of Justice), the d'Hondt system is followed so that ministerial portfolios are divided among the parties in proportion to their strength in the Assembly. This means that all parties with a significant number of seats are entitled to at least one minister;
• certain resolutions must receive "cross community support", or the support of a minimum number of MLAs from both communities, to be passed by the Assembly. Every MLA is officially designated as either nationalist, unionist or other. The election of the Speaker, any changes to the standing orders and the adoption of certain money bills must all occur with cross-community support. The election of the First and deputy First Ministers previously occurred by parallel consent but the positions are now filled by appointment; and
• any vote taken by the Assembly can be made dependent on cross-community support if a petition of concern is presented to the Speaker. A petition of concern may be brought by 30 or more MLAs. In such cases, a vote on proposed legislation will only pass if supported by a weighted majority (60%) of members voting, including at least 40% of each of the nationalist and unionist designations present and voting. Effectively this means that, provided enough MLAs from a given community agree, that community (or a sufficiently large party in that community) can exercise a veto over the Assembly's decisions. The purpose is to protect each community from legislation that would favour the other community.

The Assembly has the power to call for witnesses and documents, if the relevant responsibility has been transferred to its remit. Proceedings are covered by privilege in defamation law.

Reform proposals

The community designation system has been criticised by the cross-community Alliance Party, as entrenching sectarian divisions. The Alliance Party supports ending the official requirement to make a designation based on identity and instead proposes the taking of important votes on the basis of an ordinary super-majority.

Organisation

The Assembly is chaired by the Speaker and three Deputy Speakers, of whom one is appointed Principal Deputy Speaker. Lord Alderdice served as the first Speaker of the Assembly from July 1998, but retired in March 2004 to serve as a member of the Independent Monitoring Commission that supervised paramilitary ceasefires. The position was filled from 2007 until 13 October 2014 by William Hay, but has since been succeeded by Mitchel McLaughlin. In the Assembly, the Speaker and ten other members constitute a quorum.

The Assembly Commission is the body corporate of the Assembly with all that that entails, It looks after the pay and pensions of members directly and through tax-payer funded appointees, and, the interests of political parties. The very first bill of the Assembly was to do with members' pensions and was taken through with minimum ado by a member of the Commission.

The Assembly has 9 statutory committees, each of which is charged with scrutinising the activities of a single ministerial department. It also has 6 permanent standing committees and can establish temporary ad hoc committees. The Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of the committees are chosen by party nominating officers under the d'Hondt system procedure, used to appoint most ministers. Ordinary committee members are not appointed under this procedure but the Standing Orders require that the share of members of each party on a committee should be roughly proportionate to its share of seats in the Assembly. Committees of the Assembly take decisions by a simple majority vote. The following are the current statutory and standing committees of the Assembly:

Statutory (departmental) committees

• Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee
• Communities Committee
• Economy Committee
• Education Committee
• Finance Committee
• Health Committee
• Infrastructure Committee
• Justice Committee
• Committee for the Executive Office

Standing committees

• Assembly and Executive Review Committee
• Audit Committee
• Business Committee
• Procedures Committee
• Public Accounts Committee
• Standards and Privileges Committee

See also

• Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)
• List of political parties in Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2017
• Members of the 6th Northern Ireland Assembly
• Scottish Parliament
• National Assembly for Wales
• Oireachtas

External links

• Official website
• The St Andrews' Agreement The latest attempt to restore devolution to Northern Ireland.
• Northern Ireland Act 1998 – Full text.
• Standing Orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly – HTML and PDF versions available on the Northern Ireland Assembly.
• Northern Ireland Assembly awards outsourcing contract, brayleinobroadskill.co.uk; accessed 14 May 2016. website.