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A blog from the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service

Governance Blog Archive

Here you will find an archive of Governance Blog articles published before 1 May 2022, divided into their relevant categories.

Brexit

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and Committee scrutiny By Emma Dellow-Perry & Aidan Stennett The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is part of the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and…
Image showing Aerial View of the Port of Gibraltar
Gibraltar Following the United Kingdom’s (UK) exit from the European Union (EU), much debate was focussed on Northern Ireland’s unique position as part of the UK which has a…
This post updates a previous article considering the complexities around data protection after the UK’s exit from the EU. Under the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement, the treaty between the…

Democracy and Government

A photo showing the Chairperson (Kellie Armstrong MLA) and Deputy Chairperson (Megan Fearon MLA) of the Northern Ireland Assembly Women's Caucus (photo courtesy of Politics Plus)
Please note that more up-to-date statistics on gender representation can be found in the RaISe research paper Who Runs Northern Ireland? A Summary of Statistics Relating to Gender and…
A photograph of the Houses of Parliament
A high profile consequence of the continuing failure to establish an Executive and fully functioning Assembly was the legislative passage this week of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and…
An image of the Northern Ireland Assembly Library
This week is Libraries Week so we thought we would provide an insight into the Northern Ireland Assembly Library, its work and the collection that it manages. The Assembly…

Justice

Image of girl using mobile phone: Increased access to social media, particularly via personal devices, presents opportunities but also risks (Image: Creative Commons Zero)
Rapid technological changes have caused the norms and methods of children’s sexual behaviour to evolve. Much screen-based media use now involves accessing interactive social networking sites such as Facebook…

Planning

An aerial view of the Peace Bridge in Derry/Londonderry
This article explores the temporary planning measures introduced as a response to COVID-19 across the UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI). Some of these measures have, and will, require…
An image of the Peace Bridge in Derry/Londonderry
This blog article examines the similarities and differences between the planning systems north and south of the border on the island of Ireland. It is based on a more…
Image of a planned urban landscape: Local development planning is now with local councils
The planning system has undergone much change recently, so what are the new structures and how has the balance of responsibility shifted between central and local government?…

Statistics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

A blue and white image depicting a coronavirus
By Keara McKay & Thomas Procter This is a visualisation prepared and maintained by the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service (RaISe). It presents the spread of COVID-19…
This paper presents a brief demographic profile of Northern Ireland, updating a previous article on this subject in 2016. It shows emerging trends in the population, and comparisons with…
Travel distances to nearest GP Practice, March 2018
Please note: this article was edited on 11.2.20 with up-to-date GIS maps showing travel distances to GP practices for 2015 and 2020. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Day was established…