Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

About

The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members - five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries of which are the same as those used for electing members of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. Its role is primarily to scrutinise and make decisions on the issues dealt with by Government Departments and to consider and make legislation.

Responsibilities

MLAs are responsible for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Salary

The basic salary for an MLA is £55,000, while the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

, ministers and committee chairs receive an additional 'Office Holders Salary' on top of their basic salary.

History

Previous similar legislators

From 22 June 1921 until 30 March 1972 MPs of the

House of Commons of Northern Ireland The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the '' Government of Ireland Act 1920''. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished w ...

and Senators of the Senate of Northern Ireland in the Parliament of Northern Ireland legislated for Northern Ireland like MLAs do today.

Northern Ireland Assembly legislators

Following a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

to the

Northern Ireland Act 1998 __NOTOC__ The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule. It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established by ...

on 19 November 1998; a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the Labour government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...

. 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 ...

and was set up to give Northern Ireland devolved legislative powers. MLAs are responsible for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election

The Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 resulted in the number of MLAs being reduced from 108 to 90. This change was first implemented in the snap Assembly election in March 2017.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

* Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2022 *

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2017 This is a list of the 90 members of the sixth Northern Ireland Assembly, the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. The election took place on 2 March 2017, with counting finishing the following day; voter turnout was estimated ...

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2016 − This is a list of the members of the fifth Northern Ireland Assembly, the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) elected on 5 May 2016 or subsequently co-opted are listed by party ...

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2011 The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011. This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parlia ...

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2007 This is a list of the members of the third Northern Ireland Assembly elected on 7 March 2007 or subsequently co-opted. The third term was the first in the Assembly's history to run to completion. Party strengths Graphical representati ...

* Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2003 * Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998 * Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1982 * Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly {{NorthernIreland-stub