Northern Ireland Executive

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The Northern Ireland Executive as established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is the (currently suspended) executive body for Northern Ireland, answerable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It consists of a First Minister and Deputy First Minister and various ministers with individual portfolios and remits. The Assembly elects the First Minister and Executive.

The Executive officially took power on December 2, 1999, but was suspended on various occasions, the last effective from October 15, 2002, as the Ulster Unionist Party walked out after a high-profile Police Service of Northern Ireland investigation into an alleged IRA spy ring. No convictions resulted. While it is suspended, the functions it exercised have reverted to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The seats were allocated in a power-sharing formula known as the D'Hondt system and were proportional to the number of members in the Assembly. In effect the Executive is a coalition between the four major parties including, the Ulster Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party. The Assembly uses the D'Hondt method for allocating the ministerial positions in the Executive. An unforeseen consequence of the safeguards built into the Belfast Agreement was that if either of the two largest parties refused to take part, the executive could not function.

A previous Northern Ireland Executive existed briefly in the 1970s as an attempt to restore devolution to Northern Ireland in a similar power-sharing agreement. See Sunningdale Agreement.

Northern Ireland Executive 1998-2002

First Minister of Northern Ireland

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	David Trimble	July 1, 1998	July 1, 2001	Ulster Unionist Party
2.	Reg Empey (acting)	July 1, 2001	November 1, 2001	Ulster Unionist Party
	David Trimble	November 1, 2001	October 14, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party

Deputy-First Minister of Northern Ireland

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Seamus Mallon	July 1, 1998	November 6, 2001	Social Democratic and Labour Party
2.	Mark Durkan	November 6, 2001	October 14, 2002	Social Democratic and Labour Party

Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Investment

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Reg Empey	November 29, 1999	October 14, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party

Minister for Finance & Personnel

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Mark Durkan	November 29, 1999	December 14, 2001	Social Democratic and Labour Party
2.	Seán Farren	December 14, 2001	October 14, 2002	Social Democratic and Labour Party

Minister for Regional Development

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Peter Robinson	November 29, 1999	November 24, 2000	Democratic Unionist Party
2.	Gregory Campbell	July 27, 2001	November 24, 2000	Democratic Unionist Party
	Peter Robinson	November 24, 2000	October 11, 2002	Democratic Unionist Party

Minister for Education

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Martin McGuinness	November 29, 1999	October 14, 2002	Sinn Féin

Minister for the Environment

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Sam Foster	November 29, 1999	February 20, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party
2.	Dermot Nesbitt	February 20, 2002	October 14, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party

Minister for Employment & Learning

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	*Seán Farren	November 29, 1999	December 14, 2001	Social Democratic and Labour Party
2.	Carmel Hanna	December 14, 2001	October 14, 2002	Social Democratic and Labour Party

• The position was originally called Minister for Further and Higher Education, Training and Development.

Minister for Social Development

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Nigel Dodds	November 29, 1999	November 24, 2000	Democratic Unionist Party
2.	Maurice Morrow	July 27, 2001	November 24, 2000	Democratic Unionist Party
	Nigel Dodds	November 24, 2000	October 11, 2002	Democratic Unionist Party

Minister for Culture, Arts & Leisure

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Michael McGimpsey	November 29, 1999	October 14, 2002	Ulster Unionist Party

Minister for Health, Social Services & Public Safety

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Bairbre de Brún	November 29, 1999	October 14, 2002	Sinn Féin

Minister for Agriculture & Rural Development

#	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party
1.	Bríd Rodgers	November 29, 1999	October 14, 2002	Social Democratic and Labour Party

External links

• [NI Executive's Official Website]

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