Back جميعة أيرلندا الشمالية Arabic উত্তর আয়ারল্যান্ড সমাবেশ Bengali/Bangla Assemblea d'Irlanda del Nord Catalan Shromáždění Severního Irska Czech Cynulliad Gogledd Iwerddon Welsh Nordirlands lovgivende forsamling Danish Northern Ireland Assembly German Asamblea de Irlanda del Norte Spanish Ipar Irlandako Biltzarra Basque Pohjois-Irlannin kansalliskokous Finnish

Northern Ireland Assembly

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

Northern Ireland Assembly

Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann
Norlin Airlan Assemblie
Seventh Assembly
An open bunch of flax flowers
Logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly[1]
Type
Type
History
Founded25 June 1998 (current form)
Preceded byUK Parliament (pre-devolution)
Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921–1972)
Leadership
Edwin Poots
since 3 February 2024
Matthew O'Toole, SDLP
since 3 February 2024
Structure
Seats90[2]
Political groups
Executive (78)
  •   Sinn Féin (27) N
  •   DUP (25) U
  •   Alliance (17) O
  •   UUP (9) U

Official Opposition (8)

Other Opposition (3)

Speaker (1)

Committees
  • Executive Office
  • Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
  • Communities
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Finance
  • Health
  • Infrastructure
  • Justice
  • Assembly and Executive Review
  • Audit
  • Business
  • Procedures
  • Public Accounts
  • Standards and Privileges
Length of term
No more than 5 years
Salary£55,000 per year + expenses
Elections
Single transferable vote
Last election
5 May 2022
Next election
On or before 6 May 2027
RedistrictingRecommendations made by the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland; confirmed by the Secretary of State
Meeting place
Assembly Chamber, Parliament Buildings
Parliament Buildings, Stormont,
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Website
www.niassembly.gov.uk
Rules
Standing Orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly (Irish: Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann;[3] Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlan Assemblie[4]), often referred to by the metonym Stormont, 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 a unicameral, democratically elected body comprising 90 members[5] known as members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Members are elected under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation (STV-PR).[6] 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, British unionists and Irish nationalists, both participate in governing the region. The Assembly's standing orders allow for certain contentious motions to require a cross-community vote; in addition to requiring the support of an overall majority of members, such votes must also be supported by a majority within both blocs in order to pass.

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.[7] The Agreement aimed to end Northern Ireland's violent 30-year Troubles. The first Assembly election was held in June 1998.

  1. ^ "Welcome to the Northern Ireland Assembly". Northern Ireland Civil Service.
  2. ^ "MLA Contact Details". Northern Ireland Assembly. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Seirbhís Oideachais Thionól Thuaisceart Éireann". Northern Ireland Assembly. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Yer Assemblie" (PDF). Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  5. ^ After the March 2017 elections, previously 108.
  6. ^ Whyte, Nicholas. "The Single Transferable Vote (STV)". Northern Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  7. ^ Bell, Christine (2003), Peace Agreements and Human Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 141, The agreement makes it clear that the North-South Ministerial Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly are 'mutually inter-dependent, and that one cannot successfully function without the other'. This interdependence is constructed so as to ensure that nationalists and unionists cannot 'cherrypick' the aspects of government that they particularly want to implement. Thus, unionists only get the Assembly and devolved power if they operate the cross-border mechanisms, and for nationalists the situation is reversed.

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