1 Devolution in Northern Ireland
1. The Northern Ireland Assembly was elected in July
1998 as a consequence of the Belfast Agreement made on 10 April
(Good Friday) of that year and endorsed in a referendum in Northern
Ireland on 22 May.[1] The
Northern Ireland Act 1998 transferred from Westminster to the
Assembly legislative and executive authority for a substantial
range of public policy matters. The Northern Ireland Executive
was headed jointly by a First Minister and a deputy First Minister,
and comprised 10 departments (dealing with finance, health, employment,
education, trade, culture, agriculture, environment and regional
and social development).
2. Devolution was, for the third time, suspended
on 14 October 2002 under the terms of the Northern Ireland Act
2000. In spite of a number of attempts to restore it, devolution
was not fully reinstated until 8 May 2007 after the Assembly elections
of 7 March 2007. Under the St Andrew's Agreement of 2006, it was
hoped that with the restoration of a devolved Assembly policing
and justice matters would have been devolved by May 2008, those
powers being the major area remaining under the direct administration
of the United Kingdom Government. That deadline proved to be unrealistic.
3. In November 2008, the First Minister, Rt Hon.
Peter Robinson MP, and the deputy First Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness
MP, announced an agreement that would facilitate the devolution
of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland. After further
rounds of discussions and consideration in the Assembly, the Department
of Justice Bill completed its progress through the Northern Ireland
Assembly on 30 November 2009. It allowed the establishment of
a Department of Justice to oversee policing and justice in Northern
Ireland, and it set out the arrangements for the appointment of
a Minister to head that department. Progress towards implementation
was slow and at the end of January 2010, the Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
met for discussions at No. 10 Downing Street. There followed 10
days of intensive talks at Hillsborough Castle, Belfast, in which
were involved the Prime Minister, the Taoiseach, the Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland, the Republic's Minister for Foreign
Affairs, and representatives of Northern Ireland's political parties,
especially the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein. These
talks resulted in the Hillsborough Castle Agreement of 5 February
2010, which set out a timetable for the devolution of policing
and justice powers. It is anticipated that that devolution will
occur by 12 April 2010.
4. We were ourselves present in Northern Ireland
during the early days of those intensive talks, gathering the
evidence which informs those parts of this Report that deal with
how agencies involved in the administration of policing and justice
in Northern Ireland will deal with the new challenges posed by
stronger local accountability and a local Justice Ministry. We
heard repeatedly that Northern Ireland is ready to take this substantial
step towards running its own affairs autonomously within the United
Kingdom and to attaining broadly the same level of devolution
which the Scottish Parliament has enjoyed since its establishment
in 1999. We are delighted to welcome the Prime Minister's statement
of Monday 8 February 2010, in which he anticipated the devolution
of policing and justice to Northern Ireland by 12 April.
5. Our purpose in this Report is twofold: to consider
the implications of devolution for those concerned with delivering
an independent, fair and just criminal justice and policing system
within Northern Ireland; and to reflect upon the work that we
ourselves have done during this Parliament and on the challenges
that may face any successor Committee following both the final
major stage of devolution and the forthcoming general election.
1 The agreement was also endorsed in a referendum in
the Republic of Ireland. Back
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