Procedures and Protocols: Electing Key Roles in the Northern Ireland Assembly
This article begins with the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers, followed by the appointment of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. We then explain how the remaining ministerial positions are filled, and how the Assembly's standing and statutory committees are established. Finally, we take a look at the process of allocating committee membership.
Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
An Acting Speaker, the oldest Member present at the sitting not seeking election as Speaker, will preside over the election and will start by asking for nominations. Any Member may propose that another Member is elected as Speaker. The Acting Speaker will then ask for the proposal to be seconded by another Member. Procedurally, "seconding" means expressing formal agreement with a motion or nomination, allowing it to be debated and voted on. This ensures there's sufficient interest in the proposal to consider it further. If the proposal is not seconded, there is no valid nomination. Once seconded, the Acting Speaker will verify that the candidate is willing to accept the nomination. The Acting Speaker will then ask for further proposals and follow the same procedure for each. When there are no further proposals, the Acting Speaker will indicate that the time for proposals has passed and a debate on the nominations may take place.
After the debate, the Acting Speaker will ask the Assembly if the first candidate proposed should be Speaker of the Assembly. A vote in favour must pass with cross-community support. If the first nominee is not elected, the Acting Speaker repeats the process for the second candidate and so on until a candidate is elected or all nominations are exhausted. Once a Speaker is elected, all other nominations automatically fall.
If a Speaker is elected he or she will be invited to take the Chair and may address the Assembly briefly.
If a Speaker is not elected no further business may take place and the Assembly must meet again to attempt to elect a Speaker.
The election of Deputy Speakers will be presided over by the newly appointed Speaker and the procedure for electing the three Deputy Speakers is the same as for the Speaker. Any Member may propose that another Member is elected as a Deputy Speaker, the proposal must be seconded by another Member and the Speaker will verify that the candidate is willing to accept the nomination.
The Speaker will then ask for further proposals and follow the same procedure for each. When there are no further proposals a debate on the nominations may take place.
At the conclusion of the debate, the Speaker will ask the Assembly if the first candidate proposed should be a Deputy Speaker and again, there must be cross-community support. The Speaker then asks about the next candidate and so on, until three candidates have been elected or all nominations are exhausted. Once three Deputy Speakers have been elected, all other nominations automatically fall.
If at least two Deputy Speakers are not successfully elected then no further business can take place and the Assembly must meet again to attempt to elect Deputy Speakers.
This video take you thought the process of electing a new Speaker and deputies:
Appointment of First Minister and deputy First Minister
Filling the positions of the First Minister and deputy First Minister is likely to take place soon after the Assembly has appointed a Speaker and at least two Deputy Speakers. It may take place at the same sitting but there is no requirement for this to happen. However, the appointment, and the filling of other ministerial offices, must currently take place by the deadline of 18 January 2024 8 February 2024. The nomination process will commence with the Speaker inviting the nominating officer of the largest political party (Sinn Féin), to nominate a Member of the Assembly to be First Minister.
Sinn Féin’s nominating officer should then state that party’s nomination. The Speaker will ask the person who has been nominated if he/she is willing to take up office and to affirm the terms of the pledge of office.
The Speaker will then invite the nominating officer of the largest political party of the largest political designation (DUP) to nominate a Member of the Assembly to be deputy First Minister.
DUP’s nominating officer should then state that party’s nomination. The Speaker will ask the person who has been nominated if he/she is willing to take up office and to affirm the terms of the pledge of office.
The Speaker will then call on the newly appointed First Minister to address the Assembly followed by the newly appointed deputy First Minister. After this, other Members of the Assembly may be given an opportunity to speak.
In the event that either a First Minister or a deputy First Minister is not appointed, both offices remain vacant.
This video will take you through the process of filling the positions of First Minister and deputy First Minister:
Election of the Justice Minister
The filling of the office of Minister of Justice may only proceed once the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister have been filled. It does not necessarily have to take place at the same sitting but it must currently take place by the deadline of 8 February 2024.
The nomination process will commence with the Speaker inviting Members to nominate another Member to hold the office. Once one Member has been nominated, no further nominations may be made unless the nomination does not take effect or the nominated person does not take up the office.
The person nominating a Member may have an opportunity to say a few words in support of their nomination and a debate may take place but the whole process must not exceed 30 minutes.
The nomination will only take effect if it is supported on a cross-community basis with parallel consent as follows:
- A majority of the Members present and voting on the motion;
- A majority of the designated Nationalists present and voting; and
- A majority of the designated Unionists present and voting.
The nominee will be deemed to have taken up the office once he or she has affirmed the terms of the pledge of office. Nominations will continue to be taken by repeating the process until the office is filled.
Although the office of the Minister of Justice must be filled before other ministerial offices may be filled, the position of Minister of Justice is included in the d’Hondt formula that will be used for the appointment of other Ministers. Learn more about d’Hondt from “Understanding the D'Hondt Method: Its Use in the Northern Ireland Assembly".
Appointment of other Ministers
Party nominating officers will be asked in order of party size, taking onto consideration which party already holds the office of Minister of Justice, to select first an available ministerial office and then nominate a member of their party to hold it.
The Speaker will ask the nominee to confirm that they accept the nomination and to affirm the terms of the pledge of office. The Speaker will then declare that they have taken up office.
The Member must take up office within 15 minutes of being nominated, unless the Assembly approves a request for an extension to the time limit.
If a nominating officer indicates that their party does not wish to nominate a person to hold ministerial office, the Speaker will invite the nominating office of the next party on the d’Hondt list to select a ministerial office and then nominate a member of their party to hold it.
When all ministerial positions have been filled, the Speaker will ask any parties that declined to take up ministerial office having been invited to do so, if they choose to be recognised as an official opposition.
Establishment of Business Committee
The Business Committee is a standing committee of the Assembly that has responsibility for making arrangements for business that takes place in plenary. It is therefore necessary for this committee to be appointed as soon as possible once a Speaker is in place.
The Committee comprises the Speaker as Chairperson and up to 12 other Members who are usually the whips and deputy whips of the larger parties. A motion to appoint the Committee will probably be included in the business for the first sitting in the name of the Speaker ex officio.
Establishment of Statutory Committees
Before the positions of committee chairs and deputy chairs may be allocated, the Assembly must determine how many statutory committees it wishes to establish. The Assembly’s rules specify that this may only be done after all ministerial offices have been filled and the Business Committee consulted, so the Business Committee must have been appointed and had an opportunity to meet before the allocation of chairs and deputy chairs can take place.
The Business Committee considers the best arrangement for statutory committees that will enable the Assembly to scrutinise the Executive and have proportionate membership, taking into account the number of MLAs and party size.
Since restoration of devolution, the Assembly has been satisfied that a single statutory committee corresponding to each Executive department is the best arrangement for allowing the Assembly to conduct focused and effective scrutiny. If the new Business Committee agrees this approach, it will table a motion seeking the Assembly’s approval to establish nine statutory committees that correspond to the nine Executive departments. Once approved, committee chairs and deputy chairs may be appointed.
Appointment of Committee Chairpersons
When the motion establishing statutory committees has been agreed, committee chairpersons and deputy chairpersons may be appointed. By convention, the Assembly appoints to its statutory committees first and then its standing committees. Standing committees are permanent committees of the Assembly with specific roles and memberships assigned to them in Standing Orders. The Assembly currently has 6 Standing Committees.
- Committee on Procedures
- Business Committee
- Public Accounts Committee
- Committee on Standards and Privileges
- Audit Committee
- Assembly and Executive Review Committee
The Speaker will invite the nominating officers in order of party size to nominate a member of their party to be chair or deputy chair of a statutory committee and specify on which committee that Member is nominated to serve. Parties are required to prefer committees that are not linked to departments of which members of their party are in ministerial office.
The Speaker will confirm the appointment once the Member has accepted the nomination. If more than 15 minutes elapse between the nomination and confirmation of the appointment, the power to nominate will pass to the next largest party under d’Hondt unless a request to extend the time limit is agreed by the Assembly.
If the Assembly agrees to establish nine statutory committees, there will be 18 positions available. The following rules apply:
- Neither Ministers nor junior Ministers may be a chair or deputy chair
- A Member is not eligible to be a chair if they are already chair of another statutory or standing committee
The process will then be repeated for the appointment of chairs and deputy chairs of standing committees. The same rules apply to the appointment of chairs and deputy chairs to standing committees and in addition, the following rules apply to the Public Accounts Committee:
- Neither the chair nor deputy chair may be from the same party as the Minister of Finance.
- Where there is an opposition, the chair must be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition.
- Where more than one party forms an opposition, the deputy chair must be nominated by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Allocating Committee Membership
Once committee chairpersons and deputy chairpersons have been appointed parties may give consideration to membership of the committees. With the exception of the Audit Committee statutory and standing committees have nine seats including the chair and deputy chair.
Certain rules apply to how these seats must be allocated as follows:
- Membership of committees should reflect as far as possible the party composition of the Assembly
- Not all seats may be allocated to the same party
- The total number of seats allocated to each party should, as far as possible, reflect the proportion of Assembly seats held by each party
- The number of seats allocated to a party on each committee should, as far as possible, reflect the proportion of Assembly seats held by each party
- The Speaker must ensure that all Members who do not hold ministerial or junior ministerial office are offered at least one statutory committee place
- Where there is an opposition, and so far as is practicable, at least one seat on each statutory committee must be allocated to a member of the opposition
- A Member serving on the Policing Board, a policing and community safety partnership or a district policing and community safety partnership may not be appointed to the Committee for Justice
- No more than one member of the Audit Committee may also be a member of the Public Accounts Committee
Once parties have agreed which Members they would like to appoint to which committee, two motions listing the proposed membership of statutory and standing committees are tabled by the Business Committee for consideration and agreement by the Assembly.
Committees may meet as soon as this item of business concludes successfully.
