Levels of government in Northern Ireland
As a citizen, you have political representation in a number of institutions. These range from your local council, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Parliament at Westminster, to the European Parliament. Find out how you can use your representatives to help you.
Titles of politicians
Politicians working in the different levels of government are known by specific titles. This means that when you are looking for your representative in the Assembly, Westminster or Europe, they will have a separate title for each position. Some may hold more than one postion - for example they might have MP MLA after their names.
- MEP – Member of the European Parliament (European Union level)
- MP – Member of Parliament (UK, national level)
- MLA – Member of the Legislative Assembly (devolved government level)
- councillor (local level)
Devolution
Devolution means that the United Kingdom government has transferred a wide range of powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly. This means that local politicians, instead of MPs in Westminster, now make key decisions on how Northern Ireland is governed.
Some powers remain with the UK government. These can be either 'reserved' matters which might transfer to the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future date; or 'excepted' matters which will remain with the UK government indefinitely.
The Assembly was restored on May 8 2007, after the main political parties agreed to form a new power-sharing Executive.
The Assembly
The Assembly is the cornerstone of the devolved Northern Ireland government. It is where political representatives debate and pass laws on important issues affecting the entire population. It is made up of 108 representatives – known as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs.) who represent seven different political parties. There is also a small number of independent MLAs. Each MLA must designate him or herself as 'Unionist', 'Nationalist' or 'Other'.
Most decisions of the Assembly are taken by a simple majority vote. However, certain key decisions such as approval of the budget must have cross-community support. Cross-community support is defined in law as the support of the majority voting, a majority of those designated nationalist voting and a majority of those designated unionist voting. Or, as the support of 60 per cent of those voting, 40 per cent of the designated Nationalists voting and 40 per cent of the designated Unionists voting.
The Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive exercises authority on behalf of the Assembly. It is made up of the First Minister and deputy First Minister who are joint Chairs and 11 other ministers who are nominated by the political parties in the Assembly through a procedure known as d’Hondt. The number of ministerial posts any party can have is determined by the number of MLAs they have.in the Assembly. Each minister is nominated to take charge of a particular department.
The European Union
The European Union (EU) is a group of countries whose governments work together. To join you have to agree to follow EU rules and in return you get certain benefits. Each country has to pay money to be a member, which is mostly done through taxes.
The EU uses this money to change the way people live and do business in Europe, and it also makes rules which members must follow.
House of Commons
The House of Commons is elected by the public and the party with the largest number of members forms the government of the UK. Northern Ireland politicians are elected to the House of Commons but the majority come from England, Scotland and Wales.
MPs debate the big political issues of the day and proposals for new laws. You can have a voice in the UK Parliament by voting in the next general election for the Northern Ireland politician to best represent your views.
House of Lords
The House of Lords acts as a revising chamber for law and it works alongside the House of Commons. It is also the highest court in the UK and is known as the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Local councils
Local government in Northern Ireland is currently made up of 26 councils. They look after a range of services such as your local sport and leisure centre or arranging your bin collections.
The Northern Ireland Civil Service
Most important policies, especially the ones which impact greatest on people, need a change in the law to actually work. Civil servants are the only people who can draft bills (proposed laws) which are then submitted to the Assembly for debate before they can ever become law.
So, civil servants perform an important function, not only in shaping policy and identifying need, but also in the actual process of creating law.
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