Executive Committee
The current Northern Ireland Executive, formed on 16 May 2011, is constituted as follows:
| Portfolio | Minister | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Minister | Peter Robinson | Democratic Unionist | |
| Deputy First Minister | Martin McGuinness | Sinn Féin | |
| Agriculture and Rural Development | Michelle O'Neill | Sinn Féin | |
| Culture, Arts & Leisure | Carál Ní Chuilín | Sinn Féin | |
| Education | John O'Dowd | Sinn Féin | |
| Employment and Learning | Stephen Farry | Alliance | |
| Enterprise, Trade and Investment | Arlene Foster | Democratic Unionist | |
| Environment | Alex Attwood | SDLP | |
| Finance & Personnel | Sammy Wilson | Democratic Unionist | |
| Health, Social Services & Public Safety | Edwin Poots | Democratic Unionist | |
| Justice | David Ford | Alliance | |
| Regional Development | Danny Kennedy | Ulster Unionist | |
| Social Development | Nelson McCausland | Democratic Unionist |
Two junior ministers in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister are not members of the Executive but also attend Executive meetings.
| Portfolio | Minister | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Minister (assisting First Minister) | Jonathan Bell | Democratic Unionist | |
| Junior Minister (assisting deputy First Minister) | Jennifer McCann | Sinn Féin |
Ministers are assisted by backbench Assembly private secretaries (equivalent to parliamentary private secretaries). The non-political Attorney General for Northern Ireland is the chief legal advisor to the Executive, appointed by the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and may also attend Executive meetings.
Read more about this topic: Northern Ireland Executive
Famous quotes containing the words executive and/or committee:
“When you give power to an executive you do not know who will be filling that position when the time of crisis comes.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)