Northern Ireland

E

Transportation

The province’s railway system connects Bangor, Larne, Coleraine, and Londonderry with one another and with Dublin. The highway system is well developed. Belfast International Airport, Belfast City Airport, and Londonderry Airport have established themselves effectively in the British and Irish markets. Belfast and the nearby container port of Larne are major transshipment centers. Ferries connect Belfast and Larne to ports in Scotland.

VI

Government

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is a parliamentary monarchy and an electoral democracy. The province is represented by 18 members in the British Parliament's House of Commons. Voting age in the United Kingdom is 18.

Northern Ireland was brought into existence in 1920 by the British Parliament’s Government of Ireland Act, which served as the province’s constitution until 1972. The pre-1972 provincial government became known as Stormont, after the suburb of Belfast where the parliamentary buildings were opened in 1932. In 1972, following three years of sectarian violence, the British government closed down the Stormont government, and Northern Ireland came under the direct rule of the British Parliament. Direct rule from Britain remained in effect until the implementation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It was imposed again in 2002 after the IRA was accused of conducting espionage in the Stormont. Elections for the Stormont were held in March 2007, and self-rule was restored to Northern Ireland in May 2007 when a power-sharing government took office.

A

Provincial Government

Under the 1998 agreement, responsibility for many of the internal affairs of the province has devolved, or been passed down, from the British Parliament to a regional assembly, known as the Northern Ireland Assembly, and an executive cabinet of ministers, called the Northern Ireland Executive. Responsibility for international affairs—including most aspects of relations with the Republic of Ireland—and major taxation and policing issues remains with the British Parliament.

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The Northern Ireland Assembly is a unicameral (single house) body with 108 members. The members are directly elected to five-year terms under a system of proportional representation, in which seats are awarded to a political party in proportion to the number of popular votes it receives. The assembly appoints the Northern Ireland Executive, a cabinet of ministers responsible for prioritizing executive business and developing government programs and budgets. The executive is composed of a first minister, a deputy first minister, and ten ministers responsible for different government departments. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement requires that the political make-up of the executive reflect that of the assembly.

B

Judiciary

Northern Ireland is subject to British common law. The top legal officers are the lord chancellor, the attorney general, and the solicitor general. These positions are political appointments made by the British Parliament. Since 1972 a director of public prosecutions for Northern Ireland has been responsible for bringing criminal prosecutions, while civil cases are dealt with by the crown solicitor for Northern Ireland.

The highest tier of courts is collectively called the Supreme Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland. It consists of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Crown Court. There are normally ten Supreme Court judges, headed by the lord chief justice of Northern Ireland. Lower courts, which adjudicate on less serious matters, include county courts, where cases are heard before a judge and jury, and magistrates’ courts, where minor matters are dealt with summarily. There are normally 14 county court judges and 15 resident magistrates. Owing to fears of intimidation, terrorist offenses have been heard since 1972 by a judge sitting without a jury. As in all of the United Kingdom, the ultimate court of appeal is the British Parliament’s House of Lords.

C

Local Government

Since 1973 Northern Ireland has been divided into 26 districts, each with an elected council responsible for providing local services. The province had previously been divided into more than 80 smaller urban and rural districts. The British government reformed the system in 1973 in response to housing allocation and employment practice abuses by local councils, as well as to the gerrymandering of election boundaries in closely contested areas (see Gerrymander). These abuses contributed significantly to Catholic protests and the campaign of civil disobedience that began in the 1960s. Both Catholic- and Protestant-controlled councils were guilty of abuses, but Protestants controlled the great majority of councils.

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