Northern Ireland Executive

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In Northern Ireland
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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
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Organisations
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See also
Belfast Agreement (1998) St Andrews Agreement (2006) Elections in Northern Ireland Constituencies • Political parties
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The Northern Ireland Executive as established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is the (currently suspended) executive body for Northern Ireland, answerable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It consists of a First Minister and Deputy First Minister and various ministers with individual portfolios and remits. The Assembly elects the First Minister and Executive.

1 Structure
2 History
3 Future Executive
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Structure

In contrast with Westminster System cabinets, which generally need only be backed by a majority of legislators, ministerial positions in the Northern Ireland Executive are allocated to all of those parties with significant representation in the Assembly. The number of ministries to which each party is entitled is determined by the D'Hondt system. In effect, major parties cannot be excluded from participation in government, and power-sharing is enforced by the system. The Executive can not function if either of the two largest parties refuse to take part, as these parties are allocated the First Minister and Deputy First Minister positions. However, other parties are not required to enter the Executive even if they are entitled to do so; instead, they can choose to go into opposition if they wish. There were some calls for the SDLP and UUP to do just this after the 2007 Assembly elections^[1], but ultimately the two parties chose to take their seats in the Executive.

[edit] History

Each of the three elections since the Assembly was created in 1998 has resulted in an Executive or potential Executive consisting of the four largest Northern Irish parties -- the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party -- though the number of ministries allotted to each has waxed and waned with their varying electoral fortunes. The Executive first officially took power on December 2, 1999, but was suspended on various occasions, the last effective from October 15, 2002, as the Ulster Unionist Party, then holding the office of First Minister, walked out after a high-profile Police Service of Northern Ireland investigation into an alleged IRA spy ring. No convictions resulted. While it is suspended, the functions it exercised have reverted to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

[edit] Future Executive

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

On April 2, in the wake of the 2007 Assembly elections, the parties decided which portfolios they will take when power sharing resumes on May 8. Until devolution, the departments listed below will remain the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office.^[2]

Department	Minister	Party	Take office
First Minister	Ian Paisley^[3]	Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007
Deputy-First Minister	Martin McGuinness^[3]	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007
Enterprise, Trade and Investment		Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007
Finance & Personnel		Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007
Regional Development	Conor Murphy^[4]	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007
Education	Caitríona Ruane^[4]	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007
Employment and Learning		Ulster Unionist	8 May 2007
Environment		Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007
Culture, Arts & Leisure		Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007
Health, Social Services & Public Safety		Ulster Unionist	8 May 2007
Agriculture	Michelle Gildernew^[4]	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007
Social Development	Margaret Ritchie^[4]	Social Democratic and Labour	8 May 2007