First Minister and deputy First Minister

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Northern Ireland

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The First Minister and the deputy First Minister (Irish: Céad-Aire agus an leas-Chéad-Aire, Ulster Scots: Heid Männystèr an tha Heid Männystèr depute), abbreviated to FM/dFM^[1], are positions in the Northern Ireland Executive with overall responsibility for the running of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in Northern Ireland.

The incumbents are Peter Robinson as First Minister and Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister.

Contents 1 About 2 Responsibilities 3 Election 4 Pay 5 "Deputy" becomes "deputy" 6 Joint First Minister 7 Co-First Minister 8 History 9 First Ministers and deputy First Ministers 9.1 First Ministers 9.2 Deputy First Ministers 9.3 Direct rule ministers 10 References 11 See also 12 External links

[edit] About

The two positions are a diarchy, meaning they have equal power.

The incumbent First Minister and deputy First Minister are Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) respectively,^[2]

The former First Minister, Ian Paisley, stood down in May 2008.^[3] This triggered the removal of Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister, although he remained in position in a caretaker capacity until being renominated with a new First Minister designate. On 17 April 2008 Peter Robinson was ratified as Democratic Unionist Party leader designate.^[4] As leader-designate of the largest designated Unionist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly he was also in effect the First Minister designate and became First Minister on 5 June 2008.^[5]

[edit] Responsibilities

The First Minister and deputy First Minister share their responsibilities with each other in a diarchy.

"Support for the Executive and liaison with the Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council, British-Irish Council, Civic Forum and UK Departments; international relations; Programme for Government and the Executive’s economic policies; promoting and monitoring implementation of equality of opportunity/good relations, tackling poverty and social exclusion, children and young people, victims and survivors, sustainable development; Maze/Long Kesh Regeneration; Review of Public Administration; Information Service; emergency planning; improving investment in infrastructure and the Statutory Publications Office."^[6]

Two Junior Ministers assist the First Minister and deputy First Minister in carrying out the work of OFMDFM. They are jointly accountable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The incumbent Junior Ministers are Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP) and Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin).

[edit] Election

The First Minister elected by the Assembly on a joint ticket with the deputy First Minister. Their joint nomination has to obtain an overall majority in the Assembly along with a majority of both designated Nationalist MLAs and designated Unionist MLAs. The First Minister will be from the biggest designation in the Assembly and the deputy First Minister from the other designation. Designated Other MLAs also vote.

This diarchy was created to enable the leaders of the main unionist and nationalist parties to work together as a team jointly representing both communities.

Following the St Andrews Agreement, this was changed so that the Leader of the largest party nominated the First Minister, and the leader of the next largest party that is in the opposite designation nominated the deputy First Minister.

[edit] Pay

The salary for the two positions is £111,183^[7] each (including MLA pay).

[edit] "Deputy" becomes "deputy"

Several weeks after Martin McGuinness took up office as deputy First Minister civil servants began asking the Assembly's Hansard team to drop the capital D for a lower case d. The reason was that the legislation setting up the job the Northern Ireland Act 1998 used a lower case d. It is believed by some however that the case was changed to highlight the fact that the position holds the same power as the position of First Minister, however a spokesman for Mr McGuinness said neither the deputy First Minister nor his advisers had asked for the change. The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, William Hay, ordered the change and the capital D was dropped from Hansard references. The Office of the First and deputy First Minister continues to use both versions of Mr McGuinness' title on their website, their archive of press releases has been changed, but the capital D still appears in some places. And a spokesman confirmed on 20 March 2008 that the office has "no plans" to change the OFMDFM logo, it continues to read as "Office of the First and Deputy First Minister", however, the Assembly committee that scrutinises their work is now listed as the "Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister". Ultimately it was decided that Mr McGuinness should be the deputy First Minister, unless all the other letters in the title are in capitals. Confusion isn't completely resolved however; if Mr McGuinness writes to the Assembly committee that scrutinises his work, his note will have a letterhead that comes from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, but he'll get a reply back from the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.^[8]

[edit] Joint First Minister

Sinn Féin started using the phrase Joint First Minister in 2009 to describe the deputy First Minister to highlight the fact that the First Minister and deputy First Minister operated as a diarchy. Martin McGuinness recently used the term himself when he arrived for a meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council; the DUP denounced the term as "Republican Speak".^[9] Jim Allister, The leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice has long been calling Robinson and McGuinness "the joint first ministers", probably because he knows it will annoy the DUP.^[10] In the Assembly chamber David McClarty used the phrase but was corrected by William Hay the Speaker.

[edit] Co-First Minister

Sinn Féin started using the phrase Co-First Minister in 2009 to describe the deputy First Minister to highlight the fact that the First Minister and deputy First Minister operated as a diarchy. On the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis website all references to the McGuinness are as "Co-First Minister Martin McGuinness". ^[11][12][13] The DUP denounced the term as Republican Speak.^[14]

[edit] History

Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and subsequent the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1998 with a view to assuming devolved powers from the Westminster Parliament. On 1 July 1998 David Trimble (Ulster Unionist Party) and Seamus Mallon (Social Democratic and Labour Party) were nominated and elected First Minister and deputy First Minister designates respectively. Eventually, on 2 December 1999, power was devolved and Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon formally took office as joint heads of the Northern Ireland Executive.

On 6 November 2001 Mark Durkan (SDLP) became deputy First Minister after Seamus Mallon's retirement. On 8 May 2007 Ian Paisley (DUP) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) were nominated and elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively in line with the announcement by their two parties on 26 March 2007. After Paisley stepped down Peter Robinson was elected as First Minister with Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister on 5 June 2008.

Between 12 February 2000 ^[15] and 30 May 2000^[16], and 15 October 2002^[17] and 8 May 2007^[18], however, devolution was suspended, and along with it the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minster. The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister became the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. There were also two "technical" 24-hour periods of suspension on 11 August 2001 and 22 September 2001.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}

[edit] First Ministers and deputy First Ministers

[edit] First Ministers

	Minister	Party	Took office	Left office
	William David Trimble	Ulster Unionist	2 December 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	William David Trimble	Ulster Unionist	30 May 2000	30 June 2001
	Sir Reginald Norman Morgan Empey (Acting)	Ulster Unionist	1 July 2001	6 November 2001[24]
	William David Trimble	Ulster Unionist	6 November 2001	14 October 2002
Office suspended
	The Reverend Ian Richard Kyle Paisley	Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007	5 June 2008
	Peter David Robinson	Democratic Unionist	5 June 2008

[edit] Deputy First Ministers

	Minister	Party	Took office	Left office
	Seamus Mallon	Social Democratic and Labour	2 December 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	Seamus Mallon	Social Democratic and Labour	30 May 2000	6 November 2001[25]
	Mark Henry Durkan	Social Democratic and Labour	6 November 2001	14 October 2002
Office suspended
	James Martin Pacelli McGuinness	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007

[edit] Direct rule ministers

During the periods of suspension, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland assumed the responsibilities of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister
• Northern Ireland Executive
• Junior Ministers

[edit] External links

• OFMDFM

v • d • e Heads of government of Northern Ireland Prime Ministers of Executives (1922 – 1972) James Craigavon · John Miller Andrews · Basil Brookeborough · Terence O'Neill · James Chichester-Clark · Brian Faulkner Chief Executive of Executive (1973 – 1974) Brian Faulkner First Ministers and deputy First Ministers of Executives (2001 – present) First Ministers David Trimble · Reg Empey (acting) · David Trimble · Ian Paisley · Peter Robinson deputy First Ministers Seamus Mallon · Seamus Mallon (acting) · Mark Durkan · Martin McGuinness · Martin McGuinness

v • d • e Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) Headquarters: Castle Buildings Department First Minister Party allocation Designated Unionist: Democratic Unionist Party First Minister Peter Robinson Junior Minister Robin Newton deputy First Minister Party allocation Designated Nationalist: Sinn Féin First Minister Martin McGuinness Junior Minister Gerry Kelly Permanent Secretary Bruce Robinson Executive agencies ILEX Urban Regeneration Company (jointly with the Department for Social Development) · Northern Ireland Bureau · Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels Committee Chairperson Danny Kennedy Deputy Chairperson Naomi Long Other Committee Members Martina Anderson · Tom Elliott · Dolores Kelly · Ian McCrea · Barry McElduff · Francie Molloy · Stephen Moutray · Jim Shannon · Jimmy Spratt Website: www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk

v • d • e Northern Ireland Executive Headquarters: Stormont Castle   Heads of government First Minister Peter Robinson deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness   Departments Agriculture and Rural Development Party allocation Sinn Féin Minister Michelle Gildernew Culture, Arts and Leisure Party allocation Democratic Unionist Party Minister Nelson McCausland Education Party allocation Sinn Féin Minister Caitríona Ruane Employment and Learning Party allocation Ulster Unionist Party Minister Reg Empey Enterprise, Trade and Investment Party allocation Democratic Unionist Party Minister Arlene Foster Environment Party allocation Democratic Unionist Party Minister Edwin Poots Finance and Personnel Party allocation Democratic Unionist Party Minister Sammy Wilson Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister First Minister Party allocation Designated Unionist: Democratic Unionist Party Minister Peter Robinson Junior Minister Robin Newton deputy First Minister Party allocation Designated Nationalist: Sinn Féin Minister Martin McGuinness Junior Minister Gerry Kelly Health, Social Services and Public Safety Party allocation Ulster Unionist Party Minister Michael McGimpsey Regional Development Party allocation Sinn Féin Minister Conor Murphy Social Development Party allocation Social Democratic and Labour Party Minister Margaret Ritchie   Proposed Departments Justice Website: www.northernireland.gov.uk

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