Decentralization/Federalism – 1998
1998
The Good Friday Agreement provided for a 108-member elected assembly in Northern Ireland. The assembly would be capable of exercising executive and legislative authority, and subject to safeguards to protect the rights and interests of all sides of the community. According to the accord, the assembly was to be elected by using the Proportional Representative Single Transferable Vote system. In spirit of safeguarding the interest and rights of all sides, the agreement also called for the proportional distribution of committee members in the assembly.
According to the Good Friday Agreement, a First Minister, Deputy First Minister, and up to ten Ministers with departmental responsibilities would discharge the executive authority of the assembly. The selection was based on the dÕHondt system, giving more weight to the largest party in the assembly.
Along with giving legislative and executive authority to the assembly, the Good Friday Agreement also gave power to the Secretary of State to represent Northern Ireland’s interests in the United Kingdom Cabinet and make sure that the United Kingdom’s international obligations are met with respect to Northern Ireland.
So far as the implementation of the decentralization provision in the Good Friday Agreement is concerned, the Northern Ireland Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 15 July 1998, dealt with all aspects of the devolution of power to the assembly in Northern Ireland. The bill had the third reading in the House of Lords on 17 November and got the royal assent on 19 November 1998.1
It is also important to note, considering the transitional arrangements in the agreement, that elections for the assembly took place in July 1998, well before the enactment of the Northern Ireland Bill.