- Latest available (Revised)
- Point in Time (03/03/2016)
- Original (As enacted)
Point in time view as at 03/03/2016.
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Northern Ireland Act 1998, Section 29.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
(1)Standing orders shall make provision—
(a)for establishing committees of members of the Assembly (“statutory committees”)
[F1(i)to advise and assist the First Minister and the deputy First Minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within their responsibilities as Ministers jointly in charge of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and
(ii) ]to advise and assist each Northern Ireland Minister in the formulation of policy with respect to matters within his responsibilities as a Minister;
(b)for enabling a committee to be so established either in relation to a single Northern Ireland Minister or in relation to more than one; and
(c)conferring on the committees the powers described in paragraph 9 of Strand One of the Belfast Agreement.
(2)Standing orders shall provide that—
(a)the nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (3) gives the highest figure may select a statutory committee and nominate as its chairman or deputy chairman a person who is a member of the party and of the Assembly;
(b)if the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by paragraph (a) within a period specified in standing orders, or the nominated person does not take up the selected office within that period, that power shall be exercisable instead by the nominating officer of the political party for which the formula in subsection (3) gives the next highest figure; and
(c)paragraphs (a) and (b) shall be applied as many times as may be necessary to secure that a chairman and deputy chairman are nominated for each of the statutory committees.
(3)The formula is—
where—
S = the number of seats in the Assembly which were held by members of the party on the day on which the Assembly first met following its election;
C = the number of chairmen and deputy chairmen of statutory committees (if any) who are members of the party.
(4)Standing orders shall provide that, where the figures given by the formula for two or more political parties are equal, each of those figures shall be recalculated with S being equal to the number of first preference votes cast for the party at the last general election of members of the Assembly.
(5)Standing orders shall provide that—
(a)a Minister or junior Minister may not be the chairman or deputy chairman of a statutory committee; and
(b)in making a selection under the provision made by virtue of subsection (2)(a), a nominating officer shall prefer a committee in which he does not have a party interest to one in which he does.
[F2(5A)A member of the Assembly who is—
(a)a Minister of the Government of Ireland, or
(b)chairman or deputy chairman of—
(i)a committee of the Dáil ÿireann (House of Representatives of Ireland),
(ii)a committee of the Seanad ÿireann (Senate of Ireland), or
(iii)a joint committee of the Oireachtas (National Parliament of Ireland),
may not be the chairman or deputy chairman of a statutory committee.]
(6)For the purposes of subsection (5) a nominating officer has a party interest in a committee if
[F3(a)it is established to advise and assist the First Minister and the deputy First Minister and either of those Ministers is a member of his party; or
(b)it is established to advise and assist a Northern Ireland Minister and that Minister is a member of his party.]
(7)Standing orders shall provide that a chairman or deputy chairman shall cease to hold office if—
(a)he resigns by notice in writing to the Presiding Officer;
(b)he ceases to be a member of the Assembly; or
(c)he is dismissed by the nominating officer who nominated him (or that officer’s successor) and the Presiding Officer is notified of his dismissal.
(8)Standing orders shall provide that, where an office of chairman or deputy chairman is vacant, the nominating officer of the party on whose behalf the previous incumbent was nominated may nominate a person to hold the office who is a member of the party and of the Assembly.
(9)Standing orders shall provide that if—
(a)the nominating officer does not exercise the power conferred by subsection (8) within a period specified in standing orders; or
(b)the nominated person does not take up the selected office within that period,
the vacancy shall be filled by applying the provision made by virtue of subsections (2) to (5).
(10)In this section “nominating officer” has the same meaning as in section 18.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in s. 29(1)(a) inserted (8.5.2007) by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 (c. 53), ss. 10(2), 27(4)(5) (as amended by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2007 (c. 4), s. 1(1)) (with s. 1(3)); S.I. 2007/1397, art. 2
F2S. 29(5A) inserted (30.11.2000) by 2000 c. 42, s. 3(1)
F3S. 29(6)(a)(b) substituted for words (8.5.2007) by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 (c. 53), ss. 10(3), 27(4)(5) (as amended by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2007 (c. 4), s. 1(1)) (with s. 1(3)); S.I. 2007/1397, art. 2
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C2S. 29 modified (8.5.2007) by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 (c. 53), ss. 2(2) (as amended by Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2007 (c. 4), s. 1(1)), 27(4)(5) {Sch. 2 para. 5} (with s. 1(3)); S.I. 2007/1397, art. 2
C3S. 29(8) applied (12.2.2000) by 2000 c. 1, s. 3(7)(c); S.I. 2000/396, art. 2
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
The Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
Point in Time: This becomes available after navigating to view revised legislation as it stood at a certain point in time via Advanced Features > Show Timeline of Changes or via a point in time advanced search.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: