The Executive of the 6th Northern Ireland Assembly was appointed on 11 January 2020, after the confirmation of Arlene Foster and

Michelle O'Neill Michelle O'Neill (née Doris; born 10 January 1977) is an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2022. She has been serving as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018 and is the Member of the ...

as First and deputy First Ministers. Following the 2 March 2017 elections to the sixth Northern Ireland Assembly, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

remained the two largest parties in the

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

. Parties in Northern Ireland that were eligible to join the Northern Ireland Executive were given a deadline of 27 March 2017 to form an Executive. The deadline passed and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

James Brokenshire James Peter Brokenshire (8 January 1968 – 7 October 2021) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in Theresa May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2018, ...

passed an emergency law at Westminster to allow more time for talks to take place. Brokenshire threatened

direct rule Direct rule is when an imperial or central power takes direct control over the legislature, executive and civil administration of an otherwise largely self-governing territory. Examples Chechnya In 1991, Chechen separatists declared independence ...

if no agreement was reached by early May 2017. This deadline was later extended to 29 June after

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 i ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

's decision to call a snap general election for 8 June 2017. On 29 June 2017, the DUP and Sinn Féin had both announced that they had not come to an agreement to form the next Northern Ireland Executive. Brokenshire extended the deadline until 3 July 2017 for further talks to continue. Abortive talks continued intermittently through 2017, 2018 and 2019 but were overshadowed by the UK

Brexit Withdrawal Agreement The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...

and the DUP role in supporting the minority British Government. Intensive talks resumed in December 2019 following the

2019 UK General Election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote ...

with a new deadline of 13 January 2020 for fresh assembly elections set by Secretary of State Julian Smith. An agreement was published by the two governments on 9 January 2020 and it was accepted by the leading parties. The

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

(UUP),

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) and

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 Assembl ...

returned to the Executive, having been absent since 2016; Alliance's

Naomi Long Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party ...

obtained the

cross-community vote A cross-community vote or cross-community support is a form of voting used in the Northern Ireland Assembly according to the provisions of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It requires the support of both main communities in Northern Ireland, in o ...

to become Minister for Justice.

5th Executive of Northern Ireland

References

{{Governments of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Executive Northern Ireland, Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly 5th Ministries of the Northern Ireland Assembly 2020 establishments in Northern Ireland Cabinets established in 2020 2020s disestablishments in Northern Ireland Cabinets disestablished in 2022 Ministries of Elizabeth II

5th Executive of Northern Ireland

See also

References