Northern Ireland Assembly Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann Norlin Airlan Assemblie | |
|---|---|
| Seventh Assembly | |
 Logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly[1] | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 25 June 1998 (current form) |
| Preceded by | UK Parliament (pre-devolution) Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921–1972) |
| Leadership | |
Edwin Poots since 3 February 2024 | |
| |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 90[2] |
.svg) | |
Political groups | Executive (78)
Other Opposition (3) Speaker (1) |
| Committees |
|
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 |
| Redistricting | Recommendations 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 | |
| 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.
- ^ "Welcome to the Northern Ireland Assembly". Northern Ireland Civil Service.
- ^ "MLA Contact Details". Northern Ireland Assembly. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- ^ "Seirbhís Oideachais Thionól Thuaisceart Éireann". Northern Ireland Assembly. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ "Yer Assemblie" (PDF). Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ After the March 2017 elections, previously 108.
- ^ Whyte, Nicholas. "The Single Transferable Vote (STV)". Northern Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ 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.