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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

World Trade Organization public forum in 2016
During a House of Commons debate on Article 50 in February 2017, Brexit Minister, David Jones, confirmed that if the UK failed to secure a deal with the EU…
Sample form used by applicants for direct payments (DAERA)
A key issue within Northern Ireland since the UK’s decision to leave the EU in June 2016 is exactly how this decision will affect local farming?…
A set of stars in the shape of the Flag of Europe, with one missing
Following the referendum in June 2016, the UK Prime Minister has stated that Article 50, the trigger mechanism for withdrawal from the EU, will be initiated by the end…

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

An image of a statue of a woman holding the scales of justice
In September 2021, Clare Bailey MLA introduced the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill to the Assembly. The Bill passed Second Stage on 12 October 2021 and would require…
A black and white image of a woman with her hand covering her face
In 2016 a man called Lance Hart shot his wife Claire and daughter Charlotte outside a swimming pool in Lincolnshire, England, before turning his shotgun on himself. Some of…
Image of a man holding a smartphone
    Last month, a new law came into force in England and Wales making upskirting a criminal offence. Upskirting involves taking a photo or video under a person’s…

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 car involved in a road traffic collision being towed (Image: Pixabay)
It is difficult to grasp the full extent of what is portrayed by road traffic collision statistics. Each statistic represents a human being and, in the case of those…
Further education enrolments as a proportion of the population aged 16 and over at ward level, 2013/14
Please note that the Constituency Profiles have been updated with a new layout and are available on a new page here. The Research and Information Service (RaISe) has just…
Bar chart showing population change in Northern Ireland by age band, between 2004 and 2014 (Source: NISRA (2015) Northern Ireland Population Estimates 2014)
Please note: we have posted a new version of this blog article using the most recent data, see here. This article presents a brief demographic profile of Northern Ireland,…