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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

An image showing lots of Brexit-related books in the Assembly Library
  Please note: This version of the Brexit and Northern Ireland reading list has now been superseded. For the very latest version, please see here. The Assembly’s Research and…
A photograph over Cuilcagh in County Fermanagh: a protected site that spans the border
Environmental regulation currently experienced by Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI) is greatly influenced by European Union (EU) policy frameworks. While some frameworks, such as the…
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…

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 by Professor Glenn D Wilson, used under Creative Commons
Mutual recognition and co-operation underpin many EU law provisions. This article looks at some of the legislative options for one particular provision following Brexit; the European Arrest Warrant (EAW)….
After FDAC: A recent report on the outcomes of family drug and alcohol courts in England
The draft Programme for Government contains a commitment to running a pilot family drug and alcohol court in Northern Ireland. Such courts have been used in England for some…
The Flag of Europe (Image: Bob, under Creative Commons)
The past seven days have seen significant developments in relation to EU referendum related action in the courts at both local and UK level. This article provides an update…

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)

Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 at SOA level and Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries
Measures which show the spatial distribution of deprivation have been used in Northern Ireland since the 1990s, and play a prominent role in terms of informing the targeting of…
A photograph showing a selection of titles from the 100 classification in the Assembly Library; in the Dewey Decimal system, 100 is used to classify philosophy and psychology
Our blog has just published its 100th article. The Assembly Research and Information Service launched Research Matters in May 2016 in order to provide short, topical articles on recent…
Map2. The service areas of the cancer centre in Northern Ireland, prior to the opening of the North West Cancer Centre.
To mark World GIS day, this article will look at how the Northern Ireland Assembly uses GIS to communicate data in effective and engaging ways. What is Geographic Information…