Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Assembly was established as part of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 to enable unionist and nationalist communities to share control of the region.

The Assembly could make decisions on areas such as education, health and agriculture, while other areas such as welfare, pensions and defence, remained the responsibilty of the central, UK Parliament. It had 108 Members and held its first elections in June 1998.

On 14 October, 2002, the Northern Ireland Assembly and its Executive were suspended. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, assisted by his team of Ministers, took responsibility for the Northern Ireland departments.

On 8 May 2007 a new executive in Northern Ireland took power in Northern Ireland, almost five years after the previous institutions were suspended.

To view statistics on government performance in Northern Ireland, visit the following websites:

• The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (opens in new window)
• National Statistics (opens in new wondow)