The term Junior Minister, in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, is the name given to two positions in the Executive Office, a department in the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ter ...

answerable to the

First Minister and deputy First Minister The First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland are the joint heads of government of the Northern Ireland Executive and have overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. Despite the different titles for the two ...

. The positions are currently vacant. Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the

First Minister and Deputy First Minister The First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland are the joint heads of government of the Northern Ireland Executive and have overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. Despite the different titles for the two ...

acting jointly may determine that a number of members of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

shall be appointed as junior ministers. The salary of each junior minister in 2007–2008 (when devolution was restored) was £60,067.42, which decreased to the current level of £55,000.00 in 2016. The

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) called for the immediate abolition of the junior minister positions in its 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election manifesto.

Junior Ministers

Nominated by the First Minister

Nominated by the Deputy First Minister

Assembly Private Secretary

Following the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

announced the creation of the new post of Assembly Private Secretary, available to all ministers in the

. The position is similar to that of a

parliamentary private secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, providing political support to the Minister within the department. It is non-salaried and held by a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

from the same party as the Minister. While not ministerial, and therefore below the rank of Junior Minister, it provides experience to members considered as potential future ministers. It is not compulsory to appoint an Assembly Private Secretary; indeed the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, ...

initially did not make appointments. As of May 2011, OFMDFM officials were drawing up a code of conduct and enabling processes to facilitate the creation of the posts. None had been published by October 2011, meaning that the posts had not been created by the

up to that point. However, they were declared as public offices in the register of members' interests on 29 June 2011 and 7 October 2011. The prospective Assembly Private Secretaries are: Democratic Unionist Party *

Paul Girvan William Paul Girvan (born 6 July 1963) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim since 2017. He was elected to Newtownabbey Borough Council in 1997, and from 2002 to 2004 s ...

MLA ( OFMDFM) *

Alastair Ross Alastair Ross (born 4 March 1981) is a former Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Ross studied at Friends' School in Lisburn and at the University of Dundee before returning to study Irish ...

MLA (

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment The Department for the Economy (DfE, ga, An Roinn Geilleagair) is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister for the Econo ...

) *

Simon Hamilton Simon Hamilton (born 17 March 1977) is a former Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Hamilton was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2007 to 2019; Hamilt ...

MLA (

Department of Finance and Personnel The Department of Finance (DoF, ga, An Roinn Airgeadais, Ulster-Scots: ''Männystrie o Siller'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the departme ...

) *

Alex Easton Alex Easton MLA (born 19 May 1969) is an Independent Unionist politician from Northern Ireland who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2003. A former member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Eas ...

MLA (

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety The Department of Health (DoH, ga, An Roinn Sláinte (IPA: �anˠˈɾˠiːn̪ʲˈsˠlaːnʲtʲə, Ulster-Scots: ''Männystrie o Poustie'') is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with ...

) * William Humphrey MLA (

Department for Social Development The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal'', Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility f ...

) Sinn Féin * Pat Doherty MP MLA (

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department i ...

) *

Barry McElduff Columba Barry McElduff (; born 16 August 1966) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the West Tyrone UK parliament constituency. He was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Ireland A ...

MLA (

Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), translated in Irish as and in Ulster-Scots as , was a devolved government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department was the Mi ...

) *

Mitchel McLaughlin John Mitchel McLaughlin (born 29 October 1945) is the former General Secretary of Sinn Féin who also served as an MLA and was once the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. He was the first Nationalist speaker of the Assembly. McLaughlin w ...

MLA (

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

) Sinn Féin has adopted the term Parliamentary Under Secretary to describe the position. Ulster Unionist Party *

Danny Kinahan Daniel de Burgh Kinahan (born 14 April 1958) is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Antrim from 2015 to 2017. Prior to his election as a Member of Parliament, Kinahan was a Member of the ...

MLA (

Department for Regional Development The Department for Infrastructure (DfI, ga, An Roinn Bonneagair; Ulster-Scots: ''Depairment fur Infrastructure'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. Up until May 2016, the department wa ...

) Social Democratic and Labour Party *

Colum Eastwood Colum Eastwood (born 30 April 1983) is an Irish nationalist politician serving as Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2015. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle since 2019, served in Northern Irel ...

MLA (

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

)

References

External links

Executive Office
{{Northern Ireland Executive Northern Ireland Executive

Junior Ministers

Nominated by the First Minister

Nominated by the Deputy First Minister

Assembly Private Secretary

See also

References

External links