Northern Ireland Assembly
Stormont
Parliament Buildings is home to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Legislative Authority for Northern Ireland.
The building was originally constructed to accommodate the newly formed Government of Northern Ireland established under the Government of Ireland Act 1921.
It was opened by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward V111) on 16 November 1932 on behalf of King George V.
Structure
The Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1998 and has full legislative and executive authority for all matters that are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Government departments and are known as transferred matters. Excepted matters remain the responsibility of the Westminster Parliament. Reserved matters are also dealt with by Westminster unless it is decided by the Secretary of State, that some of these should be devolved to the Assembly.
There are 108 Assembly Members – six from each of the 18 Westminster Constituencies. Their role is primarily to scrutinize and make decisions on the issues dealt with by Government Departments and to consider and make legislation.
I am one of the six Members that represent North Down.
The Devolved Institutions were suspended by the Secretary of State on 14 October 2002. The current Assembly was elected on 26 November 2003.
My Role
I am one of the Ulster Unionists representing North Down and am currently the Ulster Unionist Party spokesman for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. I am also pleased to be the Party representative on the Northern Ireland Policing Board. I represent my Party as a Director of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Business Trust and a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
