Government In Northern Ireland Research Articles

Victimhood Status and Public Attitudes towards Post-conflict Agreements: Northern Ireland as a Case Study

The rights and needs of victims have become an increasingly controversial issue in post-conflict societies. Yet to date, the views of victims concerning the new political arrangements in post-conflict settlements remain unexplored. Mindful of this omission and using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article investigates the relationship between victimhood status and attitudes towards the new political arrangements of devolved government in Northern Ireland, namely the Assembly and its power-sharing Executive. Based on the 2010 Northern Ireland Election Survey, the results suggest that individual victims – those who had directly and indirectly experienced violent instances and perceived themselves as victims – are notably more supportive of these new political arrangements and this relationship remains regardless of whether Protestants or Catholics are considered. A key factor in accounting for this phenomenon is their greater endorsement of its systems of governance, or underlying consociational principles of inclusion and decision making, as well as a positive view of its current political leaders. The Northern Ireland evidence suggests that victims can act as ‘moral beacons’, providing a positive and inclusive force for political accommodation and societal reconciliation in societies emerging from conflict.

Intergovernmental Relations and Political Parties in Northern Ireland

Intergovernmental relations (IGR) as a political principle and a mechanism of governance have played a major and distinctive role in Northern Ireland's political and constitutional development. This distinctiveness is apparent in the interpretation and scope of IGR, in party representation in intergovernmental fora and in the meaning and context of party incongruence. This article seeks to analyse the development and nature of IGR since the restoration of devolved government in 1999 but particularly since 2007, in light of this distinctiveness. It sets out the wide range and nature of the processes and institutions of IGR involving the Northern Ireland government and its form of consociational representation. The article then examines how the different political parties have engaged in IGR.

Rights, responsibilities and equity in land use planning

Planning is about places, real and particular places; and Belfast - the venue for the 2012 conference of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights (IAPLR) - is a very special place. That is why this report begins with the sub-plot of this conference: Northern Ireland is emerging out of the terrible years of the troubles and inter-sectarian violence, and its people are proudly building rules, practices and bonds - including new planning laws and local government reform - in order to create a society which does not tear itself to pieces.This sub-plot shed a warm glow over the rather wet and grey centre of Belfast and over the conference itself, shaping its common, plenary, parts. The conference was organised by the School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster and they gave it the locally very appropriate theme 'Rights, responsibilities and equity in land use planning'. The meetings took place in the very smart Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in Europe!), a reception was held and dinner served in the magnificent and bombastic City Hall, and a second reception and guided tour were given in the grand and formidable Stormont parliamentary buildings.To those of us with chilling memories of bomb scares and - worse - explosions, it was not necessary to make that sub-plot explicit; others, however, might have found it more difficult to understand some of the plenary sessions. Peter Roberts (University of Leeds) gave a presentation - 'Big government in hard times' - about the distribution of government powers between central government, local government and communities. Remember that much of the government of Northern Ireland, including town and country planning, had been exercised by London since 1972, because Britain could not trust the public bodies in Northern Ireland to do that impartially. Now, those powers are back with the Northern Ireland Assembly, but not yet with the local authorities.Jenny Pyper, Deputy Secretary in the NI Department of Social Development, talked about urban regeneration and the spatial dimension of social services. Politicians must learn to take responsibility and to adopt shared agendas, she said. That statement is born out of much suffering and injustice. Richard Barnett, vice-chancellor of the University of Ulster, talked of the plans for a new campus, to the north of the city centre, not separated from the local (deprived) community and encouraging access to all. Cathal Boylan, member of the Legislative Assembly and from Sinn Fein, talked to us of the inter-party cooperation on planning and environmental issues and on local government reform. He refers to Northern Ireland, expressly, as 'the north of Ireland', but works with everyone who wants to improve conditions in that province.Even the guides who showed us round the City Hall and Stormont presented - lively, witty and informative, in the best Irish fashion - the same message: 'we are going forward, constructively and inclusively'. My taxi driver said that it was good that such international conferences could once again be held in Belfast. However, even though Belfast and Northern Ireland are moving forward, local particularity is never far away. Diana Fitzsimons (Turley Associates), who during the opening reception talked us through the ambitious plans for Titanic Quarter, emphasised that the local council was aiming for an area that is not only mixed-use but also mixed-population. Where in other places this would imply a social-economic or ethnic mix, here - and strikingly for the visitors - it meant a mix of Protestants and Catholics, of Loyalists/ Unionists and Republicans/Nationalists. We learned also that history is not only a burden, something to be borne in mind and acted upon continuously; it can also be a source of irony and laughter. We were assured by more than one person that the Titanic was OK when it leftBelfast. Or as someone said: 'it was built by the Irish and sunk by the English'. …

Coalition Government in Northern Ireland: Social Policy and the Lowest Common Denominator Thesis

In analysing governance and social policy in Northern Ireland in the period of devolution 1999–2002 Eithne McLaughlin described and predicted the dominance of a lowest common denominator approach to the formulation of social policies. This paper examines the period of restored devolution 2007–11 using this thesis. It identifies the trends in the development of social policies after 2007 and examines social policy-making by the government under five categories. Having established the reasons for this complex approach to social policy formulation, consideration is also given to the outcomes of the policy process.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Ireland and the role of local government

Background Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Ireland has developed significantly since its endorsement in the health strategies of the Republic of Ireland (2001) and Northern Ireland (2002). Throughout 2007 and 2008, research was conducted to examine HIA as a policy-informing tool throughout both jurisdictions. One aspect of this research investigated the role of local government and its relationship in advancing HIA practise and use in Ireland. Methods A case study research design was used which employed qualitative research methods, including semistructured interviewing and participant observation. In total 48 interviews were conducted with members of the HIA steering committees and individuals closely involved in the HIAs. Results The relationship between local government and HIA in Northern Ireland is a positive one given the strong tradition of local government in the jurisdiction. The Review of Public Administration (RPA) negatively influenced the integration of HIA into local authority procedures. In the Republic of Ireland, the influence of social values and political will was found to be negatively present with the HIA on Traveller accommodation. Evidence from the HIA conducted on traffic and transport in Dublin was used to plan further health promotion and community planning activities in the area. Conclusion Local government plays a vital role in HIA practise and development in both jurisdictions. The willingness to work with external partners (such as the health care services) was an important enabler or barrier to HIA operation. This will remain the case in the foreseeable future.

Colin Knox (2010), Devolution and the Governance of Northern Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press. £61.75, pp. 306, hbk.

Colin Knox (2010), Devolution and the Governance of Northern Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press. £61.75, pp. 306, hbk.

Legal Information Service Provision within Government in Northern Ireland

AbstractAlison Lorrimer, Librarian in Departmental Solicitor's Office outlines the work of Departmental Solicitor's Office and how the library service has evolved to meet the information requirements of the office.

Cohesion, Sharing, and Integration in Northern Ireland

The devolved government in Northern Ireland pledged to work for a ‘shared and better future for all’ in its Programme for Government 2008–11. In pursuit of this goal it launched a consultation document entitled Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration which challenged the assumption that division and segregation is a ‘normal’ pattern of living. I locate the policy proposals contained within the new programme in the research on community cohesion in Great Britain. I interrogate, using attitudinal data, people's preferences for the kind of society they want Northern Ireland to become and the policy consequences of their choices. Using two case studies in education and housing, I highlight the benefits of a shared society and question whether Northern Ireland can embrace the core elements of an intercultural society.

Devolution and the Governance of Northern Ireland

Devolution and the Governance of Northern Ireland

Governance, accountability and neighbourhood policing in Northern Ireland: analysing the role of public meetings

In Northern Ireland’s move from conflict to peace, policing has remained close to the top of the political agenda. As part of the peace process, the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) reported in 1999, and since its publication policing structures in Northern Ireland have undergone considerable reform. One of the threads of the ICP was to introduce a more nodal or networked approach to the delivery of policing that included the establishment of partnership policing structures. Against this backdrop, this article evaluates the use of the recently established Partners and Communities Together (PACT) public meetings in their role as a tool in re-shaping the parameters police accountability in Northern Ireland. The model is explicitly promoted as fostering a more nodal approach to local police decision making by engaging with a more diverse range of groups and harnessing the knowledge of local agencies to solve crime and disorder problems. Therefore, enhancing the accountability and legitimacy of the PSNI at the local level. In these contexts, the article utilises data taken from fieldwork undertaken at these public meetings and critically considers their role as forums where communities bring low level disorder issues that are affecting their neighbourhood to the attention of the PSNI, and whether they help solve these issues in partnership. The article therefore offers an examination of the role of public meetings and the PACT model itself.

Religion and Education in Northern Ireland

Since the foundation of Northern Ireland in 1920, the issue of control over primary and secondary education has been a source of significant tension between the two main ethno-religious communities in Northern Ireland, and between them and the government of Northern Ireland. Education in Northern Ireland is distinctly differently organized in Northern Ireland compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, and several of its ‘unique features’ (McKeown and Connolly, 1992, 211) arise out of the particular form of the political and religious sensitivities of education in the former. The paper is structured as follows. First, I shall outline the features of the governance of education in Northern Irish model. Second, I shall attempt to explain briefly why these features came about. Third, I shall consider research that has attempted to understand what are the effects of the model on the religious background of pupils in different schools. Fourth, I shall consider the role of teachers in this model. Fifth, I shall consider issues relating to curriculum and collective worship. Sixth, the crucial issue of school funding will be examined. Finally, I shall consider the prospects for the model in the future, by considering pupil opinion on the structure of schooling, and I shall explain how this model relates to political developments in Northern Ireland generally.

Devolution and social security: the anomaly of Northern Ireland

This paper evaluates and explains the complex relationship between the devolved government in Northern Ireland and social security law and practice. Unlike the situation in Scotland and Wales, social security in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. This opens up the possibility of developing separate policies and practice informed by the regional trends and needs. The paper outlines how and why the principle of parity has so strongly influenced developments and assesses the nature and extent of any divergence to date.

The Options for Devolution Finance: The Choices for the New Government

The debate about the financing of devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has acquired a new vigour since 2007, with commissions and reviews taking place in Scotland, Wales and at Westminster. Although of considerable constitutional as well as political importance, the technical detail has obscured many of the wider issues involved. This paper surveys the options now open to the UK government, as it prepares its response to the Welsh Holtham Commission, a bill implementing the Calman Commission's recommendations for Scotland, and looks at ways of altering corporation tax in Northern Ireland. It examines six options that in principle are open to the UK government, and argues that the range of options open to the UK government are narrower than they often appear, and that pressure for it to act is such that it will no longer be possible to avoid far‐reaching action.

W. E. D. Allen, Unionist Politics and the New Party

This article traces the political career of W. E. D. Allen, the Ulster Unionist MP who joined the New Party, between 1929 and 1931. It examines how the policies he endorsed—especially protection—gradually put him at odds with both the Conservative and Ulster Unionist Party hierarchies. It analyses his decision to join the New Party and explains how he attempted to relate this to his continuing commitment to Ulster Unionism. The article argues that even after he joined the New Party, there was a large degree of consistency behind Allen's stance. It further argues that Allen unsettled Unionist politics in Belfast because he presented the same kind of threat as independent Unionists: suggesting that the Ulster Unionist Party was not doing enough to tackle unemployment. It also shows how Allen's arguments raised larger questions about Ulster Unionist–Conservative relations and about the operation of devolved government in Northern Ireland.

Measuring horizontal governance: a review of public consultation by the Northern Ireland government between 2000 and 2004

Measuring horizontal governance: a review of public consultation by the Northern Ireland government between 2000 and 2004

Devolution as a Barrier to Environmental Reform: Assessing the Response to the Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland

Devolution as a Barrier to Environmental Reform: Assessing the Response to the Review of Environmental Governance in Northern Ireland

A Women at the Center: Anne Dickson and the “Troubles”

The emergence of a Catholic civil rights movement in the mid-1960s presented the Unionist government of Northern Ireland with its most perplexing challenge since the state’s founding in 1921. Unlike earlier anti-Partition campaigns, in this instance civil rights advocates initially sought equal treatment within the state. The Campaign for Social Justice and its successor, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) demanded an end to gerrymandered voting districts and discrimination in government housing and public employment. In 1968 the NICRA took its protest into the streets. Large-scale, peacefully intended marches jolted the Unionist establishment and provoked a Protestant backlash. Successive leaders of the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland scrambled to find a middle ground on which to construct a sustainable solution to the growing crisis. None proved successful. Scholars have extensively chronicled the early reform efforts of leading male Unionists and the subsequent collapse of the political center. Little has been forthcoming, however, on women involved in this same struggle. Diane Urquhart has written in depth on women in the Unionist Party, but her studies do not extend beyond 1940.1 Rick Wilford andYvonne Galligan’s analyses of women in Irish politics concentrate on the 1980s and 1990s. but do not address directly the early years of the “Troubles.”2 Rachel Ward’s recent and illuminating volume on Unionist and loyalist women as political actors focuses on the

‘A poor thing but our own’: The Joint Intelligence Committee and Ireland, 1965–72

This article explores the role of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) in assessing the development of the Northern Ireland crisis from the mid-1960s until the imposition of direct rule in 1972. It argues that the JIC's very limited engagement with Northern Ireland prior to 1969 contributed significantly to Whitehall's failure to grasp the drift of affairs from the autumn of 1968 onwards. This was due to the JIC's preoccupation with Cold War issues, compounded by reluctance to interfere in the security affairs of the Northern Ireland government. When Northern Ireland became a stock item of JIC business in 1970, the JIC secretariat became heavily involved in efforts to improve the intelligence system in Northern Ireland. The article also raises the question of the JIC's role in establishing the parameters for intelligence and security operations concerning Northern Ireland, including the controversial `Five Techniques' of interrogation, the introduction of internment in 1971, and covert activities in the Republic of Ireland. The article draws mainly on JIC, Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Office records in the National Archives.

Northern Ireland's Normal Politics?

As a consequence of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Unionists and Republicans were to engage in the shared governance of Northern Ireland. Changes in Unionist politics included recognition of the I...

Has the Northern Ireland Problem Been Solved?

The installation of a new power-sharing government in Northern Ireland in May 2007 was widely welcomed as bringing to an end almost 40 years of intercommunal conflict, and as filling a long-standing political vacuum with a set of new democratic institutions. This article explores the nature of the problem that the new institutions were designed to tackle, outlines the complex blueprint (the Good Friday agreement of 1998) that was designed in response, and assesses the capacity of this constitutional master plan to offer political stability, to prevent a return to paramilitary violence, and to provide a stable channel of expression for the political aspirations of the two communities.