Media Operational Notice

Assembly meets for first Plenary of new Mandate

The Northern Ireland Assembly will meet in the Assembly Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Belfast, on 12 May for the first Plenary of the new Mandate.

Plenary will begin at 12 noon, and all Members will sign the Undertaking and the Roll of Membership, after which Plenary will be suspended for one hour to allow the Undertaking and the Roll to be examined to ensure that Members have taken their seats in accordance with Standing Orders and the Northern Ireland (Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan) Act 2016.

After Plenary reconvenes, the Members will return to elect a new Speaker, Principal Deputy Speaker, Deputy Speakers; appoint the First and deputy First Ministers and the members of the Business Committee.

The outgoing Speaker, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, will preside over the election of the Speaker and will ask for nominations for the post of Speaker.

The candidate must be approved with cross-community support otherwise the question will be put in respect of the second candidate, and so on until a Speaker is elected with cross-community support.

Once a new Speaker has been elected, he or she will take the chair and preside over the remaining items on the Order Paper, beginning with the election of the Principal Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Speakers. The procedures for nominations, seconding of nominations and acceptance of nominations are the same as for election of Speaker.

Information about the procedures for Plenary, the election of Speaker/Principal Deputy Speaker/Deputy Speakers and the appointment of Ministers can be found in Standing Orders here. The Order Paper and Indicative Timings for Plenary can be found here.