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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 the border control entrance to Gibraltar from La Línea in Spain (image by Guy Percival, from Public Domain Picture)
This article updates a previous article on the negotiations around the Gibraltar Protocol. Gibraltar provides an interesting point of comparison with Northern Ireland in terms of arrangements following the…
A slide showing a dictionary definition of the word 'consent'
  John Locke once wrote, ‘we should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, signs of our ideas only,…
Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, incorporating the High Court (Image: Suzanne Mischyshyn, Creative Commons)
The Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol (‘the Protocol’) was the subject of a judicial review challenge at the High Court of Justice in Belfast. The hearing, which stretched over several days,…

Democracy and Government

A polling station (Image: Paul Albertella under Creative Commons)
The fifth Assembly election since the return of devolution in 1998 took place on 5 May 2016. The DUP consolidated its position as the largest party in Northern Ireland…
Rathlin Island, one of 57 SACs in Northern Ireland (Image: Colin Park under Creative Commons Licence)
How might leaving the European Union impact on environmental policy, funding and legislation in Northern Ireland?…
Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, incorporating the High Court (Image: Suzanne Mischyshyn, Creative Commons)
This week has seen a number of announcements made which will have a bearing on the process of UK withdrawal from the EU….

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…