The Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly

Role and Function

  • The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland with power to make laws on a range of issues, including those transferred from the UK parliament.
  • Its responsibilities cover areas of policy such as health, education and agriculture, with powers on matters such as defence and foreign policy retained by the UK government.
  • The Assembly also has the role of monitoring and scrutinising the work of the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure accountability.

Composition and Structure

  • The Assembly is made up of 90 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who represent 18 electoral areas across Northern Ireland.
  • Each electoral area returns five MLAs, elected under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, which aims to ensure that all sections of the community are fairly represented.
  • The Assembly is designed to be cross-community, with mechanisms in place to ensure that major decisions have the support of both nationalists and unionists.

Operation and Legislation

  • The Assembly operates through a combination of plenary sessions where all MLAs can debate and vote, and committee work, where detailed scrutiny of proposed legislation and policy issues takes place.
  • Proposed laws, known as bills, progress through several stages of debate, amendment and voting in the Assembly before becoming Acts.

Accountability

  • The Assembly has the power to hold the Executive to account, with powers to question ministers and approve budget allocations for departments.
  • The work of the Executive is scrutinised by statutory committees, each linked to a specific government department.
  • Cross-community voting rules also mean that Assembly decisions require consent from a sufficient number of both unionist and nationalist MLAs, ensuring a degree of shared decision making.

Challenges and Suspension

  • The Assembly has seen periods of suspension and direct rule from Westminster due to political crises, such as between 2002 and 2007, and again from 2017 to 2020.
  • It can face challenges in passing legislation and ensuring smooth operation due to the complex dynamics of power-sharing and community relations.
  • Despite these challenges, the Assembly is a key part of the political framework established by the Good Friday Agreement and remains central to the governance of Northern Ireland.