Commentary on provisions of Act Section 8 and Schedule 2: Undertaking by Members of the Legislative Assembly
Section 8(1) inserts new section 40A into the Northern Ireland Act 1998. This establishes a new undertaking that members of the Assembly must take before taking their seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly. This provides that they cannot participate in any proceedings of the Assembly, or have any of the other rights or privileges members of the Assembly accrue when they take their Assembly seat, until they have made the undertaking. Subsection (1) sets out the wording of the undertaking which relates to the commitments set out in paragraph 2.7 of Section A of 'A Fresh Start: the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan’ on ending paramilitarism.
	Subsections (2) to (4) of section 40A deal with the procedure for a member of the Assembly giving the undertaking. Subsections (2) and (3) set out that this procedure shall be provided by the Assembly in its standing orders, but that the procedure should not include any time bar after which the member cannot make the undertaking.
	Section 8(2) sets out the relationship between the new section 40A and section 77 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
	Section 8(3) and Schedule 2 provide transitional provision, setting out the process by which members elected at the 2016 election will give the undertaking. This is required from a timing perspective, to ensure that a process is in place in time for members elected in 2016.