The Department of Finance (DoF, ga, An Roinn Airgeadais,
Ulster-Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to:
* Ulster Scots people
The Ulster Scots ( Ulster-Scots: ''Ulstèr-Scotch''; ga, Albanaigh Ultach), also called Ulster Scots people (''Ulstèr-Scotch fowk'') or (in North America) Scotch-Irish (''Scotch-Airisch'') ...
: ''Männystrie o Siller'') is a
devolved Northern Ireland government department in the
Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister for Finance.
The department was previously called the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) before its name change on 9 May 2016.
Aim
DoF's overall aim is to help the
Northern Ireland Executive "secure the most appropriate and effective use of resources and services for the benefit of the community".
The incumbent Minister is
Conor Murphy
Conor Terence Murphy (Irish: Conchúr Ó Murchú; born 10 July 1963) is an Irish republican Sinn Féin politician who is the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland for Newry and Armagh. He served as the Member of Parliament for ...
.
Responsibilities
The department is responsible for the following policy areas:
* finance
* the
Northern Ireland Civil Service
* land and property
* building regulation
*
procurement
* civil law reform
* civil registration
Some financial matters are
reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved:
*
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
*
financial markets
In addition, some matters are
excepted and were not intended for devolution:
* taxation
* currency
DoF's main counterparts in the
United Kingdom Government are:
*
HM Treasury;
* the
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...
(on civil service matters);
* the
Ministry of Justice (on civil law reform);
* the
Department for Communities and Local Government (on building regulation);
*
HM Land Registry (on land registration).
In the
Irish Government, the main counterparts are:
* the
Department of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
;
* the
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform;
* the
Department of Justice (on civil law reform and land registration);
* the
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (on building regulation).
History
A
Ministry of Finance was established on the formation of Northern Ireland in June 1921. A finance ministry also existed in the 1974
Northern Ireland Executive and became known as the Department of Finance and Personnel under direct rule.
Following a
referendum on the
Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of
royal assent to the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a
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 ...
and
Northern Ireland Executive were established by the
United Kingdom Government under Prime Minister
Tony Blair. The process was known as
devolution
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DFP is therefore one of six direct rule Northern Ireland departments which continued in existence after devolution in December 1999 by the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 and
The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of
direct rule ministers from the
Northern Ireland Office:
* between 12 February 2000 and 30 May 2000;
* on 11 August 2001;
* on 22 September 2001;
* between 15 October 2002 and 8 May 2007.
[Article 2, Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Restoration of Devolved Government) Order 2007]
Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.
Ministers of Finance
Direct rule ministers
During the periods of suspension, the following ministers of the
Northern Ireland Office were responsible for the department:
*
Adam Ingram (2000)
*
Ian Pearson (2002–05)
*
Lord Rooker
Jeffrey William Rooker, Baron Rooker (born 5 June 1941) is a British politician and life peer who served as a government minister from 1997 to 2008. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr from ...
(2005–06)
*
David Hanson (2006–07)
See also
*
Committee for Finance and Personnel
*
NIDirect
References
External links
DFPNIDirect*
{{Authority control
Northern Ireland Executive
Environment of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland