Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

About

The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries of which are the same as those used for electing members of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

. Its role is primarily to scrutinise and make decisions on the issues dealt with by Government Departments and to consider and make legislation.

Responsibilities

MLAs are responsible for representing their constituents in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and may also hold a number of executive roles within the Northern Ireland Executive. MLAs are also responsible for proposing, debating, and voting on law in policy areas devolved to the Assembly. MLAs may also be present on committees relating to specific policy areas, intended to serve a scrutiny function, and to examine bills within that subject area as part of the process of the bill becoming a law.

Salary

The basic salary for an MLA is £55,000, while the Speaker, ministers and committee chairs receive an additional 'Office Holders Salary' on top of their basic salary.

History

Previous similar legislators

From 22 June 1921 until 30 March 1972 MPs of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and Senators of the Senate of Northern Ireland in the Parliament of Northern Ireland legislated for Northern Ireland like MLAs do today.

Northern Ireland Assembly legislators

Following a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998; a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the Labour government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Tony Blair. The process was known as

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...

and was set up to give Northern Ireland devolved legislative powers. MLAs are responsible for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election

The Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 resulted in the number of MLAs being reduced from 108 to 90. This change was first implemented in the snap Assembly election in March 2017.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

References

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly {{NorthernIreland-stub