First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland

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),^[2] (FM/dFM for short), are jobs in the Northern Ireland Executive. The First Minister is not more important than the deputy First Minister. The two positions are a diarchy, meaning they have equal power; both are nominated and appointed by members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

First Minister and deputy First Minister Céad-Aire agus leas-Chéad-Aire Heid Männystèr an Heid Männystèr depute
Incumbent Vacant since 4 February 2022
Appointer	Northern Ireland Assembly
Term length	instead of commanding the confidence of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Inaugural holder	David Trimble and Seamus Mallon
Formation	2 December 1999
Salary	£120,000 each (inc. MLA pay)[1]
Website	Website

Currently, the position is vacant since the resignation of Paul Givan (DUP) as First Minister in February 2022. Before however, the incumbents were Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party as First Minister and Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin as deputy First Minister.^[3]

Election

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are divided into two groups, Nationalists and Unionists (although there are also some independent or "Other" members).

The First Minister and the deputy First Minister are elected on a joint ticket. Under the St Andrews Agreement, the Leader of the largest party nominates the First Minister, and the leader of the next largest party that is in the other group nominates 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. 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.

"Deputy" becomes "deputy"

The first two holders of the office now known as "deputy First Minister", namely Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan, were both referred to during their periods of office as "Deputy First Minister", with a capital D. This version was also adopted in 1999 for the logo of the OFMDFM.

Several weeks after Martin McGuinness took up office as Deputy First Minister in 2007, civil servants began asking the Assembly's Hansard team to replace the capital D with a lower-case d, deputy was spelled this way in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the legislation which created the office.

It was neither Mr McGuinness nor his advisers who 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 still uses both versions of Mr McGuinness' title on their website, and 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. However, the Assembly committee that looks at their work is now listed as the "Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister". It was decided that Mr McGuinness should be the deputy First Minister, unless all the other letters in the title are in capitals. Confusion is not completely resolved however; if Mr McGuinness writes to the Assembly committee, 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.^[4]

First Ministers and deputy First Ministers

Parties

  Ulster Unionist Party   Social Democratic and Labour Party   Democratic Unionist Party   Sinn Féin

First Minister of Northern Ireland					Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland					Government	Elections
Name (Birth–Death) Constituency		Portrait	Term of office		Name (Birth–Death) Constituency		Portrait	Term of office
	David Trimble (1944–2022) Upper Bann		1 July 1998	1 July 2001		Seamus Mallon (1936–2020) Newry and Armagh		1 July 1998	6 November 2001	First Executive	1998
	Reg Empey (b. 1947) Belfast East		1 July 2001 (acting)	6 November 2001
	David Trimble (1944-2022) Upper Bann		6 November 2001	14 October 2002		Mark Durkan (b. 1960) Foyle		6 November 2001	14 October 2002
Offices vacant
											2003
	Ian Paisley (1926–2014) North Antrim		8 May 2007	5 June 2008		Martin McGuinness (1950–2017) Mid Ulster		8 May 2007	20 September 2011	Second Executive	2007
	Peter Robinson (b. 1948) Belfast East		5 June 2008	11 January 2010
	Arlene Foster (b. 1970) Fermanagh and South Tyrone		11 January 2010 (acting)	3 February 2010
	Peter Robinson (b. 1948) Belfast East		3 February 2010	10 September 2015
						John O'Dowd (b. 1967) Upper Bann		20 September 2011 (acting)	31 October 2011	Third Executive	2011
						Martin McGuinness (1950–2017) Mid Ulster		31 October 2011	9 January 2017
	Arlene Foster (b. 1970) Fermanagh and South Tyrone		10 September 2015 (acting)	20 October 2015
	Peter Robinson (b. 1948) Belfast East		20 October 2015	11 January 2016
	Arlene Foster (b. 1970) Fermanagh and South Tyrone		11 January 2016	9 January 2017						Fourth Executive	2016
Offices vacant
											2017
	Arlene Foster (b. 1970) Fermanagh and South Tyrone		11 January 2020	14 June 2021		Michelle O'Neill (b. 1977) Mid Ulster		11 January 2020	14 June 2021	Fifth Executive
	Paul Givan (b. 1981) Lagan Valley		17 June 2021	4 February 2022				17 June 2021	4 February 2022
Offices vacant
											2022

References

1. "Members' Salaries 2013-2014". Members' Expenses. Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
2. Policing and Justice Process Paper Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine Northern Ireland Executive
3. Devolved Government - Ministers and their departments Archived 2007-08-22 at the Wayback Machine Northern Ireland Executive
4. Martin's D-lemma: lowering the case of the minister's title took top aides weeks Belfast Telegraph, 21 March 2008

Other websites

• OFMDFM