Government 1972- 1999
On March 24, 1972. The UK Prime Minister, Edward Heath, announced that the British government was intending to take direct control in Northern Ireland until a political solution could be worked out. They suspended the Northern Ireland parliament but did not dissolve it. The power to make laws for Northern Ireland was provided by two orders in council.
The Northern Ireland government was suspended, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was appointed to a new office, taking over the executive administration of Northern Ireland, including the functions of the governor and all government departments. The legislation was initially for a period of one year but could be extended.
The Border Poll Act 1972 provided for a plebiscite regarding the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. A poll held in 1973 reaffirmed that the majority of those voting wished to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 973 provided a scheme for the devolution of legislative and executive powers to an elected assembly. The act stipulated that devolution could only occur if there was widespread community acceptance and satisfactory arrangements for committees based on power-sharing.
The legislation provided for excepted powers similar to those under the Northern Ireland Parliament for 50 years, preserved matters where the assembly could legislate with the consent of the secretary of state, which would ultimately be passed to parliament, and transferred matters that would be within the competence of the assembly.
Reserved matters included criminal police public order matters. Responsibility for prosecutions was vested in the UK Attorney General, and judicial appointments were made by the Lord Chancellor.
The act abolished the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the governor of Northern Ireland. It provided protections on human rights, religious, and political discrimination. It established an advisory commission on human rights.
The legislation allowed the executive authority to enter agreements with the Republic of Ireland regarding the transfer of matters.
At the Sunningdale Conference in 1973 between the British and Republic of Irish governments, devolution was set to commence on January 1, 1974. Provision was made for the establishment of a Council of Ireland.
The former Northern Ireland prime minister became the chief executive. However, due to continuing violence and loyalist opposition, including a Ulster work council strike, the chief executive and all trade union officials resigned from the executive and assembly seats.
Following a temporary continuation under the 1973 Act in which UK governmental ministers acted as heads of government departments in Northern Ireland Act 1974 was passed. This act suspended the 1973 Act and passed the executive and legislative functions orders.Laws would be made by orders in council at Westminster, and the Northern Ireland department for discharges of functions was under the control of the secretary of state. The other functions of the 1973 act continued.
These arrangements were temporary and could be extended by an order in council for a further period of up to a year. The arrangements continued from 1974 to 1998, lasting for 24 years.
The 1974 act provided for the election of a 78-member convention to consider how a form of government might gain widespread acceptance. The convention concluded in 1976.
The Northern Ireland Assembly Act 1982 was designed to provide a form of rolling devolution in stages. A 78-member assembly was provided for. It was empowered for scrutiny in relation to legislation and could consider matters affecting Northern Ireland. It also provided for a scrutiny committee for each Northern Ireland department.
It was proposed that the assembly would report on how an administration could be formed and what executive powers could be devolved.The assembly was elected, and ministers did attend. The assembly functioned, and many of its recommendations concerning lawmaking were exceptedby the government.
Unionist members resigned from the assembly in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement of December 1985. The Assembly was ultimately dissolved in 1986 as it had ceased to perform its functions.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 was an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland governments. It established an intergovernmental conference, and an intergovernmental council was formed to deal with political security, legal matters, and cross-border cooperation.
The UK government accepted that the Republic of Ireland government could put forward views and proposals relating to Northern Ireland. However, this did not affect the sovereignty of Northern Ireland.
The conference operated at official and ministerial levels, and there was a permanent secretariat. It focused on measures to recognize and accommodate the rights of the community, security and prisons policy, as well as criminal law enforcement.
The intergovernmental conference met 8 or 9 times a year, shared by the Secretary of State and Irish Foreign Minister, along with two other ministers. A conference was also established at a working level with British and Irish civil servants.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an interstate agreement and did not form part of domestic law. It was voluntarily suspended to permit political talks in Northern Ireland involving parties and the two governments in 1992.
The Downing Street Declaration in 1993 was a policy statement by which the British and Irish governments undertook to create functioning institutions that would respect the diversity of the people of Ireland. The British government stated that it had no selfish, strategic, or economic interest in Northern Ireland and undertook to be bound by the wishes of the greater number of people of Northern Ireland.
Against the backdrop of the Downing Street Declaration and the Framework Document of 1995, a constitutional settlement was eventually reached in the Belfast Agreement in April 1998 after numerous false starts.
The agreement recognized the present wish of the majority to be part of the United Kingdom. It confirmed that if a majority of Northern Ireland decided to become part of a United Ireland, it would be binding on both governments to introduce legislation to give effect to that decision.
All persons in Northern Ireland are entitled to hold British and Irish citizenship. Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution were replaced to remove the claim to legislate over the 32 counties.
The agreement provided for North-South cooperation, the British-Irish dimension, decommissioning, policing and justice, human rights, and equality.
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 replaced the Government of Ireland Act and provided for new institutions, namely an assembly and executive. The executive was elected on the basis of a so-called “d’Hondt formula” proportional by the members of the assembly. The legislation broadly followed the division between accepted, reserved, and transferred matters found in the previous legislation.
A North-South ministerial council was established to consult and cooperate between the governments of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Cross-border implementation bodies were provided to exercise joint authority in six areas.
Devolution
Power was devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive in December 1999. Various other bodies became functional, and powers were transferred from Westminster. However, the DUP refused to attend the meetings of the executive. The assembly was suspended on several occasions amid tensions over the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.
In October 2002, the assembly and executive were suspended indefinitely, and the responsibility for executive functions was presumed by the UK government. The Northern Ireland Act 2000 had provided for the suspension of the assembly and authorized legislation by orders in council in relation to matters within the competence of the assembly.
Following the St. Andrews Agreement in 2006, the Northern Ireland Act amended the original legislation and removed the power in the 2006 Northern Ireland Act 2002 to suspend the institutions. The 2006 act provided the secretary of state with the power to dissolve the institutions if political agreement was not reached. Following negotiations, devolution was reintroduced on May 8, 2007.
During direct rule, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland exercised governmental functions in Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is also responsible for the departments impacting Northern Ireland.
The Secretary of State was assisted by a team of junior ministers who took charge of particular government departments. The ministerial team comprised between 3 and 6 ministers at various times during direct rule. One junior minister was appointed to the House of Lords to take responsibility for Northern Ireland business in that house.
The ministers were allotted one or more departments and acted as a mini-cabinet in consultation with civil servants. They also had various roles at Westminster, including taking Northern Ireland legislation to parliament. They could be requested to attend cabinet meetings and subcommittee meetings affecting Northern Ireland. After 1985, they were in regular contact with ministers in the Republic of Ireland through the inter-governmental conference.
The six departments were Agriculture, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Finance and Personnel, Health, and Social Services. Another minister was responsible for a spokesman in the House of Commons for a department represented by a member of the Lords. The seventh department dealt with law and order measures comprising home affairs.