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First Minister and deputy First Minister

The First Minister and the deputy First Minister (Irish: Céad-Aire agus an Leas-Chéad-Aire, Ulster Scots: Heid Männystèr an tha Heid Männystèr depute) are positions in the Northern Ireland Executive with overall responsibility for the running of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in Northern Ireland.

The incumbents are Peter Robinson as First Minister and Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.

About

The two positions are a diarchy.

The incumbent First Minister and deputy First Minister are Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) respectively,

The former First Minister, Ian Paisley, announced on 4 March 2008 that he would be stepping down as First Minister after the US-Northern Ireland Investment Conference in May 2008. This triggered the removal of Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister, although he remained in position in a caretaker capacity until being renominated with a new First Minister designate. On 17 April 2008 Peter Robinson was ratified as Democratic Unionist Party leader designate. As leader-designate of the largest designated Unionist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly he was also in effect the First Minister designate and became First Minister on 5 June 2008.

Responsibilities

The First Minister and deputy First Minister share their responsibilities with each other in a diarchy.

"Support for the Executive and liaison with the Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council, British-Irish Council, Civic Forum and UK Departments; international relations; Programme for Government and the Executive’s economic policies; promoting and monitoring implementation of equality of opportunity/good relations, tackling poverty and social exclusion, children and young people, victims and survivors, sustainable development; Maze/Long Kesh Regeneration; Review of Public Administration; Information Service; emergency planning; improving investment in infrastructure and the Statutory Publications Office.

Two Junior Ministers assist the First Minister and deputy First Minister in carrying out the work of OFMDFM. They are jointly accountable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The incumbent Junior Ministers are Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP) and Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin).

Election

The First Minister elected by the Assembly on a joint ticket with the deputy First Minister. Their joint nomination has to obtain an overall majority in the Assembly along with a majority of both designated Nationalist MLAs and designated Unionist MLAs. The First Minister will be from the biggest designation in the Assembly and the deputy First Minister from the other designation. Designated Other MLAs also vote.

This diarchy was created to enable the leaders of the main unionist and nationalist parties to work together as a team jointly representing both communities.

Following the St Andrews Agreement, this was changed so that the Leader of the largest party nominated the First Minister, and the leader of the next largest party that is in the opposite designation nominated the deputy First Minister.

Pay

The salary for the two positions is £111,183 each (including MLA pay).

"Deputy" becomes "deputy"

Several weeks after Martin McGuinness took up office as deputy First Minister civil servants began asking the Assembly's Hansard team to drop the capital D for a lower case d. The reason was that the legislation setting up the job the Northern Ireland Act 1998 used a lower case d. It is believed by some however that the case was changed to highlight the fact that the position holds the same power as the position of First Minister, however a spokesman for Mr McGuinness said neither the deputy First Minister nor his advisers had asked for the change. The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, William Hay, ordered the change and the capital D was dropped from Hansard references. The Office of the First and deputy First Minister continues to use both versions of Mr McGuinness' title on their website, their archive of press releases has been changed, but the capital D still appears in some places. And a spokesman confirmed on 20 March 2008 that the office has "no plans" to change the OFMDFM logo, it continues to read as "Office of the First and Deputy First Minister", however, the Assembly committee that scrutinises their work is now listed as the "Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister". Ultimately it was decided that Mr McGuinness should be the deputy First Minister, unless all the other letters in the title are in capitals. Confusion isn't completely resolved however; if Mr McGuinness writes to the Assembly committee that scrutinises his work, his note will have a letterhead that comes from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, but he'll get a reply back from the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

History

Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of Royal Assent 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 Tony Blair. The process was known as devolution and was set up to give Northern Ireland devolved legislative powers. OFMDFM is one of 11 devolved Northern Ireland Departments created in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Departments (NI) Order 1999.

On 1 July 1998 David Trimble (Ulster Unionist Party) and Seamus Mallon (Social Democratic and Labour Party) were nominated and elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively. On 6 November 2001 Mark Durkan (SDLP) became deputy First Minister after Seamus Mallon's retirement. On 8 May 2007 Ian Paisley (DUP) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) were nominated and elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively in line with the announcement by their two parties on 26 March 2007.

First Ministers and deputy First Ministers

First Ministers

Name	Party	Start	End
David Trimble	UUP	1 July 1998	1 July 2001
Reg Empey (acting)	UUP	1 July 2001	1 November 2001
David Trimble	UUP	1 November 2001	14 October 2002
Ian Paisley	DUP	8 May 2007	5 June 2008
Peter Robinson	DUP	5 June 2008	present

Deputy First Ministers

Name	Party	Start	End
Seamus Mallon	SDLP	1 July 1998	15 July 1999
Seamus Mallon	SDLP	29 November 1999	6 November 2001
Mark Durkan	SDLP	6 November 2001	14 October 2002
Martin McGuinness	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007	present