Northern Ireland Assembly

the name of a governing body in Northern Ireland that has existed at various times and then been suspended because of political disagreements between political parties in Northern Ireland and with the British government. From 1921 Northern Ireland was governed by a parliament in Stormont, in Belfast, but after the start of the political violence, known as the Troubles, the province was placed under direct rule from London. The Assembly has been in operation again several times from 1973–75 and again from 1982–86 when the majority party, the Ulster Unionist Party stopped supporting it because of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The assembly was set up again as a separate parliament for Northern Ireland in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement. It continued until 2003 with David Trimble as the First Minister in charge of the North Ireland Executive of 108 elected members which formed the legislative body for Northern Ireland with powers devolved (= transferred) to it from the Westminster parliament. The assembly was suspended again in 2003 because of disagreements between political parties about sharing power. Talks then continued to be held to solve these problems and re-establish the Assembly.

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