Direct Rule

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Northern Ireland
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly Acts: Acts Members: 1998 - 2003 - 2007 Elections: 1998 - 2003 - 2007 Northern Ireland Executive First & Deputy First Minister Departments and agencies Local Government Courts of Northern Ireland
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom Parliament Committees: Affairs - Grand Members: Commons - Lords Elections: 2005 United Kingdom Government Northern Ireland Office Secretary of State • Direct Rule
Organisations
British-Irish Council Electoral Commission North/South Ministerial Council
See also
Belfast Agreement (1998) St Andrews Agreement (2006) Elections in Northern Ireland Constituencies • Political parties
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Direct rule is the term given to the administration of Northern Ireland directly from Westminster, seat of United Kingdom government. Although day-to-day matters are still handled by government departments within Northern Ireland itself, major policy is determined by the British Government's Northern Ireland Office, under the direction of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and legislation is introduced, amended, or repealed by means of order in council (effectively, rule by decree). Direct Rule does not mean that the people of Northern Ireland have no democratic say in how they are governed; like other parts of the United Kingdom they elect members of parliament to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to which the Northern Ireland Office is responsible. But it does result in the existence of an administration specific to Northern Ireland which does not have a specifically Northern Irish mandate.

The present system of Direct rule was originally introduced on March 28, 1972 under the terms of the UK's Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972, which also suspended the Parliament of Northern Ireland ("Stormont").

The British Government sought to establish a Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 (under the Sunningdale Agreement; this was brought down by Unionist action), 1982 (this time boycotted by Nationalists), and more recently under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The intention in principle has been that the Assembly would take over the political governance of Northern Ireland, and that direct rule would thus come to an end. The results of the Good Friday Agreement have been the most successful so far at achieving this; however, the Assembly was nevertheless suspended (and direct rule re-imposed) for over three months in 2000, twice briefly in 2001, and again from 2002 to the present. If, following the 2007 Assembly elections, a new power-sharing executive can be formed, direct rule will again end.

Both unionists and nationalists frequently object to direct rule, since the system gives the people of Northern Ireland relatively little democratic say over their own governance. However, some unionists accept and are content to go along with the system since it seems to show the province as an integral part of the UK; while some nationalists accept direct rule if only because they believe that politicians in London are less hostile to Northern Ireland's Catholic community than a government elected by the local Protestant majority.^{[citation needed]}