Commentary on Sections Sections 8 and 9: Justice Minister
48.These sections give effect to an agreement between the Northern Ireland political parties to amend the 1998 Act to change the means by which the Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland (the “Justice Minister”) is appointed, and to remove the anomaly whereby the party of which the Justice Minister is a member has one extra Ministerial post in the Northern Ireland Assembly (the “Assembly”) than that which it would have pursuant to the d’Hondt formula.
49.The 1998 Act sets out the majority of the devolution settlement with Northern Ireland. Whilst certain matters were transferred to the competence of the Assembly in 1998, other matters were transferred later. Of particular note, was the transfer of policing and justice to the Assembly in 2010. This transfer is not straightforward, with related national security matters continuing to be excepted and therefore largely outside the competence of the Assembly. Given this complexity, and the fact that policing and justice remains a politically sensitive issue, the provisions in the 1998 Act for the appointment of the Justice Minister are complex and the Justice Minister is not dealt with in the same way as the other Northern Ireland Ministers.
50.The Justice Minister is not appointed by the d’Hondt procedure, but through nomination by one or more members of the Assembly and approval by cross-community vote. Currently, the incumbent can be removed if a motion is raised to that effect by either the First Minister and deputy First Minister (the “FM/dFM”) acting together, or 30 or more Assembly members, followed by a majority cross-community vote. The Act amends this process to give the Justice Minister the same security of tenure as that of the other Ministerial posts, although the process is not exactly the same due to the different appointment system.