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Devolved government resumed in Northern Ireland in May 2007. The devolved institutions in Northern Ireland are constituted under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which has however been substantially amended.
Northern Ireland Ministers are chosen from the Northern Ireland Assembly in proportion to party strengths using the d’Hondt formula. The Executive is headed by a First Minister and a deputy First Minister, who act jointly in all matters.
The Assembly has legislative competence over transferred matters, which are defined as all those that are neither excepted (Schedule 2 to the Act) or reserved (Schedule 3) – essentially they lie in the economic and social field. (The Assembly may also in principle legislate in respect of reserved matters subject to various consents, but has not yet done so to any significant degree).
Key excepted issues are:
Reserved matters include:
Transferred (that is, devolved) matters include:
It is the Government’s objective that responsibility for policing and justice issues should be devolved in the near future.