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The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland was the de facto head of the Government of Northern Ireland. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. However the Lord Lieutenant, as with Governors-General in other Westminister Systems such as in Canada, chose to appoint someone to head the executive even though no such post existed in statute law. The office-holder assumed the title Prime Minister to draw parallels with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On the advice of the new Prime Minister, the Lord Lieutenant then created the Department of the Prime Minister. The Government of Ireland Act provided for the appointment of the Executive Committee of the Privy Council by the Governor. No parliamentary vote was required. Nor, theoretically, was the Executive Committee and its prime minister responsible to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland. In reality the Governor chose the leader of the party with a majority in the House to form a government. Invariably this was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, such was the UUP's electoral dominance. The Prime Minister's residence from 1920 until 1922 was Cabin Hill, later to become the junior school for Campbell College. After 1922 Stormont Castle was used, through some prime ministers chose to live in Stormont House, the unused residence of the speaker of the House of Commons. All six Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland were members of the Orange Order. A new office of First Minister of Northern Ireland was created by the Belfast Agreement in 1998. In contrast with the majoritarianism of the earlier Stormont regime, the new power-sharing assembly operates on the principles of consociational democracy.
Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland Footnotes Sources | ||||||||
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