Governance
Democracy and Government
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: Back in the Commons
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the House of Commons this week. MPs will consider the Bill in a Committee of the whole House. The Bill repeals the European Communities Act 1972 and is of
General election 2017: A detailed look at the result in Northern Ireland
The Westminster general election of 8 June 2017 resulted in a ‘hung parliament’, with the Conservatives as the largest party but without an overall majority. The result was: Conservative (318), Labour (262), SNP (35), Liberal
Transferred votes in the March 2017 Assembly Election
Transferred votes are an extremely important part of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. In the 2017 Assembly Election, only 18 MLAs had a sufficient number of first preference votes to meet the quota and
Justice
European Arrest Warrant: What next for Northern Ireland post-Brexit?
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).
What are ‘Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts’ and are they effective?
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 time, but what are they and
The courts and the EU Referendum: a week of action
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 and reflects on how they relate
Planning
Planning in a new environment
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?
A new mandate, a new Environment
Local government underwent significant structural change in 2015 with the number of councils reducing from 26 to 11, and the transfer of many functions from central to local government. This has brought changes to the
Statistics & GIS
Multiple Deprivation in Northern Ireland: Latest results
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 resources to the most deprived areas
Research Matters at 100
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 research for Members of the Legislative
The Geographic Information Service at the Northern Ireland Assembly
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 (GI) and why use it? Over