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Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland |
InNorthern Irish politics,direct rule (Irish:riail dhíreach[1][2][3]) is the administration ofNorthern Ireland directly by theGovernment of the United Kingdom. It was practised for 26 consecutive years between 1972 and 1998 duringthe Troubles, and has since then been temporarily applied during suspensions. The most recent period of direct rule came to an end on 8 May 2007 when power was restored to theNorthern Ireland Assembly following elections in April and a power-sharing agreement among major parties.
Although everyday matters under direct rule were handled by government departments within Northern Ireland itself, major policy was determined by theBritish Government'sNorthern Ireland Office, under the direction of theSecretary of State for Northern Ireland; and legislation was introduced, amended, or repealed by means ofOrder in Council. Direct rule did not mean that the people of Northern Ireland had no democratic say in how they were governed; like other parts of the United Kingdom, they elected (and still elect)members of parliament to theParliament of the United Kingdom, to which the Northern Ireland Office is responsible. But it did result in the existence of an administration specific to Northern Ireland which did not have a specifically Northern Irish mandate.
The system of direct rule was originally introduced on 28 March 1972 under the terms of the UK'sNorthern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972, which also suspended theParliament of Northern Ireland ("Stormont").
The Northern Irish administration underBrian Faulkner had refused to allow control of security in the province to be transferred to London.[4] As a consequence, the British government underEdward Heath announced on 24 March 1972 that devolved government in Northern Ireland would be suspended.[4]
Responsibility for Northern Ireland within the Cabinet had until then rested with theHome Secretary, but was now transferred to the new post ofSecretary of State for Northern Ireland, heading theNorthern Ireland Office.[4] Several new junior government ministers were created to politically head the NI government departments.[4]
The British Government sought to establish aNorthern Ireland Assembly in 1973 (under theSunningdale Agreement; this was brought down byUnionist action), in 1982 (this time boycotted byNationalists), and more recently under the terms of theGood Friday Agreement of 1998. Each time, the intention in principle was that the Assembly would take over the political governance of Northern Ireland, and that direct rule would thus come to an end. The results of the Good Friday Agreement were the most successful at achieving this; however, the Assembly was nevertheless suspended (and direct rule re-imposed) for over three months starting in February 2000,[5] twice briefly in August[6] and September[7] of 2001, and again from October 2002[8] until the spring of 2007.
Since theSt Andrews Agreement in 2006, Westminster no longer has the power to suspend the Assembly without the enactment of further primary legislation.
| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to make provision for the suspension of devolved government in Northern Ireland and the exercise of certain functions conferred by or under Part V of the Northern Ireland Act 1998; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | 2000 c. 1 |
| Introduced by | Peter Mandelson MP,Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Commons) Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lords) |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 10 February 2000 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 |
Status: Repealed | |
The assembly has been suspended five times since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in accordance with theNorthern Ireland Act 2000.[9][10] The periods of suspension were: