Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly

A power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive was formed following the Northern Ireland Assembly elections of 1973. The executive served as the devolved government of Northern Ireland from 1 January 1974 until its collapse on 28 May 1974.

Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly
1974 Executive of Northern Ireland
Date formed	1 January 1974
Date dissolved	28 May 1974
People and organisations
Head of state	Elizabeth II
Head of government	Brian Faulkner
Deputy head of government	Gerry Fitt
No. of ministers	9
Member party	UUP (pro-assembly) SDLP Alliance
Status in legislature	Coalition
History
Election	1973 assembly election
Legislature term	1973 Assembly
Predecessor	Faulkner ministry
Successor	Direct rule (1974–98) 1st Executive of Northern Ireland

History

Elections to a Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 28 June 1973.^[1] On 21 November, the Sunningdale Agreement was reached on a voluntary coalition of pro-agreement parties, and the Executive took office on 1 January 1974.^[2] Prominent members of the executive included former Ulster Unionist Party Prime Minister Brian Faulkner as chief executive, then Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Gerry Fitt as deputy chief executive, future Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader John Hume as minister for commerce and then leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Oliver Napier as legal minister and head of the Office of Law Reform.^[3]

The UUP was deeply divided; its Standing Committee voted to participate in the executive by a margin of only 132 to 105.^[4] Since the partition of Ireland, unionists had been opposed to sharing power with the Irish nationalist minority and the end of majoritarianism caused great strife in the UUP. Other contentious issues were internment, policing and the question of the planned Council of Ireland.

After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers' Council strike, the executive and Assembly collapsed on 28 May 1974 when Faulkner resigned as chief executive.^[5]

Chief Executive

In January 1974 Brian Faulkner became chief executive in the power-sharing executive with the SDLP and the non-sectarian Alliance Party, a political alliance cemented at the Sunningdale Conference that year. After opposition from within the UUP and the Ulster Workers Council Strike, the executive and assembly collapsed on 28 May 1974 when Faulkner resigned as chief executive. Brian Faulkner would later then form his own political party known as the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.^[6] They contested the 1975 Constitutional Convention Elections in which they got only 5 seats and no new chief executive was elected to replace Brian Faulkner.

No.		Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Portrait	Term of office		Elected (Assembly)	Executive	Party	Last office(s) held before election
	1.	Brian Faulkner (1921–1977) MLA for South Down		1 January 1974	28 May 1974	1973 (Assembly)	1974 Executive	Ulster Unionist Party	Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1971–1972) Minister of Home Affairs (1971–1972)

1974 Executive of Northern Ireland

Office	Name	Term	Party
Chief Executive	Brian Faulkner	1974		UUP
Deputy Chief Executive	Gerry Fitt	1974		SDLP
Minister of Agriculture	Leslie Morrell	1974		UUP
Minister of Commerce	John Hume	1974		SDLP
Minister of Education	Basil McIvor	1974		UUP
Minister of the Environment	Roy Bradford	1974		UUP
Minister of Finance	Herbert Kirk	1974		UUP
Minister of Health and Social Services	Paddy Devlin	1974		SDLP
Minister of Housing, Local Government and Planning	Austin Currie	1974		SDLP
Minister of Information	John Baxter	1974		UUP
Legal Minister and Head of the Office of Law Reform	Oliver Napier	1974		Alliance

References

1. "CBP-8638.pdf" (PDF). researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk. 30 March 2022. p. 20. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
2. "CAIN: Events: The Sunningdale Agreement - Chronology of Main Events". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
3. Holohan, Francis T., ed. (2009). Politics and society in Northern Ireland, 1949-1993. Ireland : Leaving certificate history. Hibernian Industrial Estate, Greenhills Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24: Folens. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-84741-186-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
4. Kane, Alex (31 July 2013). "Power-sharing: Just a little bit of history repeating". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
5. "BBC News | UK Politics | Quarter century after first assembly's fall". news.bbc.co.uk. 28 May 1999. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
6. "CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations - 'U'". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2024. The Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI) was officially launched in September 1974. It was formed by a group of people who had been members of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and who supported Brian Faulkner after the proposals contained in the Sunningdale Agreement had been rejected by most of the members of the UUP. This group of people had contested the 1974 Westminster election under the title 'Unionist Pro-Assembly'.

See also

• Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973
• 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election
• History of Northern Ireland