Northern Ireland Act 1998

[F1 21B Section 21A(5A) and (7C): transitional provision U.K.

(1) This section has effect in relation to—

(a) the first Act of the Assembly to establish a new Northern Ireland department [F2 the purpose of which is to exercise functions consisting wholly or mainly of devolved policing and justice functions but only if the Act makes provision of the kind mentioned in section 21A(5A) (other than by virtue of paragraph 8(5) of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 2009)] ; or

(b) an Order in Council under section 21A(7C) establishing a new Northern Ireland department.

(2) The Act or the Order may include provision for or in connection with securing that the department is to be treated, for the purposes of section 17, as not having been established until the time at which devolved policing and justice functions are first transferred to, or conferred on, the department (“the time of devolution”).

(3) The Act or the Order may include provision for or in connection with applying paragraph 11E(3) to (6) of Schedule 4A (with any necessary modifications) to enable elections to be held, before the time of devolution, to select—

(a) a member of the Assembly (“the relevant Minister designate”) to be the person who is to hold the relevant Ministerial office as from the time of devolution; and

(b) a member of the Assembly (“the deputy Minister designate”) to be the person who is to hold the deputy Ministerial office as from that time.

(4) Where the Act or the Order includes provision by virtue of subsection (3), it shall secure that (notwithstanding paragraph 11E(1) of Schedule 4A)—

(a) if the relevant Minister designate affirms the terms of the pledge of office within a specified period after the time of devolution, he shall become the relevant Minister;

(b) if the deputy Minister designate affirms the terms of the pledge of office within that period, he shall (subject to paragraph (c)) become the deputy Minister;

(c) if the relevant Minister designate does not affirm the terms of the pledge of office within that period—

(i) he shall not become the relevant Minister; and

(ii) paragraph 11E(10) and (11) of Schedule 4A shall apply as if the relevant Minister had ceased to hold office at the end of that period otherwise than by virtue of section 16A(2);

(d) if the deputy Minister designate does not affirm the terms of the pledge of office within that period—

(i) he shall not become the deputy Minister; and

(ii) paragraph 11E(10) of Schedule 4A shall apply as if the deputy Minister had ceased to hold office at the end of that period otherwise than by virtue of section 16A(2).

(5) In this section “devolved policing and justice function” has the same meaning as in section 21A (see subsection (8) of that section).

(6) In this section “relevant Minister”, “relevant Ministerial office”, “deputy Minister” and “deputy Ministerial office” have the same meaning as in Part 3A of Schedule 4A.]

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 21B inserted (11.3.2009) by Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 (c. 6), ss. 44(6), 53; S.I. 2009/446, art. 3(2)(a)

F2 Words in s. 21B(1)(a) substituted (12.3.2009) by Northern Ireland Act 2009 (c. 3), ss. 1, 5, Sch. 1 para. 9