Timetable
of the Formation of the Assembly
- The Northern Ireland Assembly was first agreed upon as part of the Good Friday Agreement, which was ratified by the
political parties on 10 April 1998.
- The Agreement was ratified separately by the people of Northern Ireland
and the Irish Republic on 10 May 1998. The Assembly was officially created at this point,
although it as yet held no powers.
- The Assembly is unusual amoung democratic parliaments in that some
decisions require separate majorities of Nationalist and Unionist members in order to be
passed, rather than a single majority. There are 108 seats, with a post of First Minister
and Deputy First Minister. There are also 10 ministerial posts, each
representing a facet of Northern Irish government. Each Ministry also has a chairman, who
must be from a different party to the Minister. The 10 Ministers along with the 2 First
Ministers form the Executive, which was to be formed at a later date.
- Elections to the Assembly were held in June 1998, and the Assembly met
in shadow format shortly afterwards. In the election, the UUP had 28 seats, SDLP 24, DUP
20, Sinn Fein 18, Alliance 6, UKUP 5, PUP 2, Women's Coalition 2 and 3 independent
candidates.
- The Executive was to be formed and power was due to be devolved shortly
afterwards, but political wrangling, chiefly between the UUP and Sinn Fein, prevented this
from happening for a long time. The Assembly did not meet during this time, and Northern
Ireland continued to be run from London.
- On 21 September 1998, the 3 independent candidates formed the United Unionist Assembly
Party.
- On 15 January 1999, 4 of the 5 UKUP Assembly members broke away and formed the Northern
Ireland Unionist Party.
- In July 1999, the UK government decided to stop the political wrangling by forcing
the formation of the Executive. However, the Unionist members boycotted the meeting, and
the Executive was set up with only Nationalist ministers. It was dissolved
again within an hour. That was technically Northern Ireland's first governing Executive,
but it will probably not go down in history as such.
- In the summer of 1999, Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon resigned.
- In the Autumn of 1999, there was a review of the Good Friday Agreement
in which the UUP and Sinn Fein eventually resolved their problems. The UK government
representative in Northern Ireland (Mo Mowlam) was replaced by Peter Mandelson during this
time.
- On 29 November 1999, the Executive was formed for a second time (read about this). This time things went to plan. The UUP
formed the Executive in return for an indication that the IRA would begin decommissioning.
Details of the ministries can be found below. Seamus Mallon was reinstated as Deputy First
Minister.
- On 2 December 1999, Roger Hutchinson was expelled from the Northern
Ireland Unionist Party. He then became an independent.
- At 17:40 on 11 February 2000 the Executive and Assembly were suspended
by the UK government (read about this) due to the
failure of the IRA to begin decommissioning.
- Following the IRA's decision to allow independent inspection of a small number of its
arms dumps, a proposal which was very narrowly accepted by the UUP, the Executive was reinstanted
and powers returned to the Assembly on 30 May 2000. So far it has survived.
- On 27 July 2000, the two DUP ministers Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds resigned
to be replaced by Maurice Morrow and Gregory Campbell. This is part of their strategy of
non-cooperation.
- On 16 November 2000, Independent Unionist Roger Hutchinson (NIUP party member from Jan
to Dec 1999) joined the DUP.
- On 4 December 2000, SDLP leader John Hume resigned as an Assembly
Member, to concentrate on his work at the UK Parliament at Westminister and in the
European Parliament. He was replaced 7 days later by the SDLP's Annie
Courtney.
- On 24 Jan 2001, the UK government representative in Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson,
was replaced by former Scottish Secretary Dr John Reid.
- On 1 July 2001, the First Minister David Trimble resigned in protest at
the continued failure of the IRA to begin decommissioning. By Assembly rules, this
automatically caused Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon to lose his post also. This
situation is the subject of mediation efforts.
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![Makeup of the assembly, Jan 2001 [9kB]](../charts/assembly_makeup_current.gif)