View source for Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly

{{Short description|Devolved government of Northern Ireland from 1 January to 28 May 1974}}
{{Infobox government cabinet
|cabinet_name       = Executive of the<br/> 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly
|cabinet_number     = 1974
|cabinet_type       = Executive
|jurisdiction       = Northern Ireland
| image                  = Brian Faulkner (cropped).jpg
| image_size             =
| image2                 =
| image_size2            =
|date_formed        = 1 January 1974
|date_dissolved     = 28 May 1974
|government_head    = [[Brian Faulkner]]
|government_head_history =
|deputy_government_head = [[Gerry Fitt]]
|state_head         = [[Elizabeth II]]
|current_number     = 9
|former_members_number =
|total_number       =
|political_party    = [[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]] ([[Unionist Party of Northern Ireland|pro-assembly]])<br/>[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]<br/>[[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance]]
|legislature_status =  Coalition
|opposition_cabinet =
|opposition_party   =
|opposition_leader  =
|election           = [[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election|1973 assembly election]]
|last_election      =
|legislature_term   = [[Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973|1973 Assembly]]
|budget             =
|incoming_formation =
|outgoing_formation =
|previous           = [[Faulkner ministry]]
|successor          = [[Direct rule over Northern Ireland|Direct rule]] {{small|(1974–98)}}<br/>[[Executive of the 1st Northern Ireland Assembly|1st Executive of Northern Ireland]]
}}
A power-sharing '''Northern Ireland Executive''' was formed following the [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)|Northern Ireland Assembly]] elections of 1973. The executive served as the [[Devolution in the United Kingdom|devolved]] government of [[Northern Ireland]] from 1 January 1974 until its collapse on 28 May 1974.
==History==
[[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election|Elections]] to a Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 28 June 1973.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-30 |title=CBP-8638.pdf |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8638/CBP-8638.pdf |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk |page=20 |format=PDF}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Events: The Sunningdale Agreement - Chronology of Main Events |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/sunningdale/chron.htm |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref> Prominent members of the executive included former [[Ulster Unionist Party]] [[Prime Minister (Northern Ireland)|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]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Politics and society in Northern Ireland, 1949-1993 |date=2009 |publisher=Folens |isbn=978-1-84741-186-0 |editor-last=Holohan |editor-first=Francis T. |series=Ireland : Leaving certificate history |location=Hibernian Industrial Estate, Greenhills Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24 |pages=37}}</ref>
The UUP was deeply divided; its Standing Committee voted to participate in the executive by a margin of only 132 to 105.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kane |first=Alex |date=2013-07-31 |title=Power-sharing: Just a little bit of history repeating |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/power-sharing-just-a-little-bit-of-history-repeating/29461301.html |access-date=2024-02-02 |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> Since the [[partition of Ireland]], [[Unionism in 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 (1970s)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999-05-28 |title=BBC News {{!}} UK Politics {{!}} Quarter century after first assembly's fall |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/354539.stm |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
==Chief Executive==
In January 1974 [[Brian Faulkner]] became chief executive in the power-sharing executive with the SDLP and the non-sectarian [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance Party]], a political alliance cemented at the [[Sunningdale Agreement|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations - 'U' |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/organ/uorgan.htm |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |quote=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'.}}</ref> They contested the 1975 Constitutional Convention Elections in which they got only 5 seats and no new [[Chief Executive (Northern Ireland)|chief executive]] was elected to replace [[Brian Faulkner]].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2|No.
! width=170|Name<br/>{{small|(Birth–Death)}}<br/>{{small|Constituency}}
!Portrait
!colspan=2|Term of office
! width=80|Elected<br/>{{small|(Assembly)}}
!Executive
!Party
!Last office(s) held before election
|-
! style="background:{{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|1.
|'''[[Brian Faulkner]]'''<br/>{{small|(1921–1977)}}<br/>{{small|MLA for [[South Down (Assembly constituency)|South Down]]}}
|
|1 January 1974
|28 May 1974
|[[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election|1973]] ([[Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973|Assembly]])
|[[Northern Ireland Executive (1974)#Members of the Northern Ireland Executive|1974<br/>Executive]]
|[[Ulster Unionist Party]]
|[[Prime Minister of Northern Ireland]]<br/>(1971–1972)<br/>[[Minister of Home Affairs (Northern Ireland)|Minister of Home Affairs]] (1971–1972)
|}
==1974 Executive of Northern Ireland==
{{Politics of Northern Ireland 1972-98}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Office
!Name
!Term
!colspan="2"|Party
|-
|Chief Executive
|[[Brian Faulkner]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Deputy Chief Executive
|[[Gerry Fitt]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic and Labour Party}};" |
|[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]
|-
|Minister of Agriculture
|[[Leslie Morrell]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Minister of Commerce
|[[John Hume]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic and Labour Party}};" |
|[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]
|-
|Minister of Education
|[[Basil McIvor]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Minister of the Environment
|[[Roy Bradford]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Minister of Finance
|[[Herbert Kirk]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Minister of Health and Social Services
|[[Paddy Devlin]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic and Labour Party}};" |
|[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]
|-
|Minister of Housing, Local Government and Planning
|[[Austin Currie]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Social Democratic and Labour Party}};" |
|[[Social Democratic and Labour Party|SDLP]]
|-
|Minister of Information
|[[John Baxter (Northern Ireland politician)|John Baxter]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Ulster Unionist Party}};" |
|[[Ulster Unionist Party|UUP]]
|-
|Legal Minister and Head of the Office of Law Reform
|[[Oliver Napier]]
|1974
! style="background-color: {{party color|Alliance Party of Northern Ireland}};" |
|[[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland|Alliance]]
|}
== References ==
<references />
==See also==
* [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)]]
* [[Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1973]]
* [[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election]]
* [[History of Northern Ireland]]
{{Northern Ireland Executive 1974}}
{{Northern Ireland heads of government}}
{{Governments of Northern Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[Category:Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)]]
[[Category:Government of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:The Troubles (Northern Ireland)]]
[[Category:1974 establishments in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:1974 disestablishments in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:1974 in British politics]]
[[Category:Ministries of Elizabeth II]]