Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister

The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) ' onMouseout='HidePop("47790")' href="/topics/Ulster_Scots_language">Ulster Scots

Ulster Scots language

Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots generally refers to the dialects of Scots spoken in parts of Ulster in Ireland. Some definitions of Ulster Scots may also include Standard English spoken with an Ulster Scots accent...

: Offis o tha Heid Männystèr an tha Heid Männystèr depute / Office o the First Meinister an First Meinister depute / Office o the First Meenister an First Meenister depute / Office o the First Minister an First Minister depute) is a devolved Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

government department in the Northern Ireland Executive

Northern Ireland Executive

The Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement...

with overall responsibility for the running of the Executive. The Ministers with overall responsibility for the department are the First Minister and deputy First Minister

First Minister and deputy First Minister

The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister , sometimes abbreviated to FM/DFM, are positions in the Northern Ireland...

.

The department was originally known as the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, with the same capitalisation used in the department's logo. Following a change in policy in 2007 (see First Minister and deputy First Minister), the word "deputy" is now spelt with a lower-case d, but the older version of the name is retained in the logo.

Ministers

The incumbent First Minister and deputy First Minister are Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson (politician)

Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

(Democratic Unionist Party

Democratic Unionist Party

The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

) and Martin McGuinness

Martin McGuinness

James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....

(Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

) respectively.
They are assisted by two junior ministers

Junior Minister (Northern Ireland)

The term Junior Minister, in Northern Ireland, is the name given to two positions in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister ....

: Jonathan Bell

Jonathan Bell (UK politician)

Jonathan Fergus Bell MLA is a Democratic Unionist Party politician in Northern Ireland. He was selected in 2010 to fill the vacancy for the Strangford constituency of the Northern Ireland Assembly following the resignation of Iris Robinson...

(Democratic Unionist Party

Democratic Unionist Party

) and Martina Anderson

Martina Anderson

Martina Anderson, MLA is an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland who occupies the post of Director of Unionist Engagement for Sinn Féin and is a former volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army .-Biography:...

(Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Responsibilities

OFMDFM’s overall aim is to “deliver a peaceful, fair, equal and prosperous society". Its key stated objectives include: "driving investment and sustainable development"; "Tackling disadvantage and promoting equality of opportunity"; and the "effective operation of the institutions of government".

The office has the following main responsibilities:

administrative support for the Northern Ireland Executive
Northern Ireland Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement...

(co-chaired by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister)
children and young people
equality of opportunity and good relations
emergency planning
infrastructure investment
international relations
liaison with the Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

, North/South Ministerial Council
North/South Ministerial Council
The North/South Ministerial Council is a body established under the Belfast Agreement to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain governmental powers across the whole island of Ireland...

, British-Irish Council
British-Irish Council
The British–Irish Council is an international organisation established under the Belfast Agreement in 1998, and formally established on 2 December 1999 on the entry into force of the consequent legislation...

, Civic Forum for Northern Ireland
Civic Forum for Northern Ireland
The Civic Forum for Northern Ireland is a consultative body in Northern Ireland consisting of members of various civil bodies. It has no legislative or governmental powers.The Forum was set up in October 2000. It was initially chaired by Chris Gibson...

(suspended) and UK Government
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...

departments
poverty and social exclusion
sustainable development
victims and survivors (of the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

)

OFMDFM's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:

the Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...

(oversees the devolution settlement);
the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....

(on the machinery of government and honours);
the Department for Communities and Local Government
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...

(on community relations and emergency planning);
the Government Equalities Office
Government Equalities Office
The Government Equalities Office is a United Kingdom government department. It was created in October 2007 when the Women and Equality Unit, based within the Department for Communities and Local Government was converted into an independent department.It has lead responsibility for gender equality...

;
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...

(on sustainable development);
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

(on international relations).

Its main counterparts in the Irish Government

Irish Government

The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.-Members of the Government:Membership of the Government is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach...

are:

the Department of the Taoiseach
Department of the Taoiseach
The Department of the Taoiseach is the government department of the Taoiseach of Ireland. It is based in Government Buildings, the headquarters of the Government of Ireland, on Merrion Street in Dublin....

(on the machinery of government);
the Department of Foreign Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs (Ireland)
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is a department of the Government of Ireland that is responsible for promoting the interests of Ireland in the European Union and the wider world...

(on the peace process and international relations);
the Department of Justice and Equality;
the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (on sustainable development and emergency planning).

History

Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement

Belfast Agreement

The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...

on 23 May 1998 and the granting of Royal Assent

Royal Assent

The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

to the Northern Ireland Act 1998

Northern Ireland Act 1998

The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established a devolved legislature for Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Assembly, after decades of direct rule from Westminster....

on 19 November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly

Northern Ireland Assembly

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

and Northern Ireland Executive

Northern Ireland Executive

were established by the United Kingdom government

Government of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...

under Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

. The process was known as devolution

Devolution

Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. Devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government...

and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. OFMDFM is one of 11 devolved Northern Ireland departments created in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998

Northern Ireland Act 1998

and The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

The Departments Order 1999 set out new devolved Northern Ireland government departments and the Northern Ireland Executive.-Departments created:The Departments Order 1999 created the following departments:...

.

The First Minister and Deputy First 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

Direct Rule

Direct rule was the term given, during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, to the administration of Northern Ireland directly from Westminster, seat of United Kingdom government...

ministers from the Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office

The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...

between 12 February 2000 and 30 May 2000;
on 11 August 2001 ;
on 22 September 2001 ;
between 15 October 2002 and 8 May 2007.

Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Ministers

Responsibilities

History

See also

External links