Junior Minister (Northern Ireland) Facts for Kids

The Junior Minister is a special job in the government of Northern Ireland. Think of them as important helpers or assistants to the main leaders, the First Minister and deputy First Minister. They work in a part of the government called the Executive Office, which is like the main office for the leaders of Northern Ireland.

Right now, these jobs are empty.

A law from 1998, called the Northern Ireland Act, says that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister can decide to choose people from the Northern Ireland Assembly to be Junior Ministers.

When these jobs started again in 2007, Junior Ministers earned about £60,067 each year. This amount later changed to £55,000 a year in 2016.

One political party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), suggested in 2011 that these Junior Minister jobs should be removed.

Who Are the Junior Ministers?
- Junior Ministers Chosen by the First Minister
- Junior Ministers Chosen by the Deputy First Minister
Other Important Roles
- Assembly Private Secretary Role
- People Considered for Assembly Private Secretary
See also
Images for kids

Who Are the Junior Ministers?

Junior Ministers are chosen by the two main leaders of Northern Ireland's government. Here are the people who have held these important roles over the years.

Junior Ministers Chosen by the First Minister

	Minister	Party	Started Job	Left Job
	Dermot Nesbitt	UUP	15 December 1999	11 February 2000
Job paused
	Dermot Nesbitt	UUP	30 May 2000	20 February 2002
	James Leslie	UUP	20 February 2002	14 October 2002
Job paused
	Ian Paisley, Jr.	DUP	8 May 2007	26 February 2008
	Jeffrey Donaldson	DUP	26 February 2008	1 July 2009
	Robin Newton	DUP	1 July 2009	16 May 2011
	Jonathan Bell	DUP	16 May 2011	11 May 2015
	Michelle McIlveen	DUP	11 May 2015	28 October 2015
	Emma Pengelly	DUP	28 October 2015	25 May 2016
	Alastair Ross	DUP	25 May 2016	9 January 2017
Job paused
	Gordon Lyons	DUP	11 January 2020	2 February 2021
	Gary Middleton	DUP	2 February 2021 (Acting)	8 March 2021
	Gordon Lyons	DUP	8 March 2021	17 June 2021
	Gary Middleton	DUP	17 June 2021	5 May 2022

Junior Ministers Chosen by the Deputy First Minister

	Minister	Party	Started Job	Left Job
	Denis Haughey	SDLP	2 December 1999	11 February 2000
Job paused
	Denis Haughey	SDLP	30 May 2000	14 October 2002
Job paused
	Gerry Kelly	Sinn Féin	8 May 2007	16 May 2011
	Martina Anderson	Sinn Féin	16 May 2011	12 June 2012
	Jennifer McCann	Sinn Féin	12 June 2012	25 May 2016
	Megan Fearon	Sinn Féin	25 May 2016	9 January 2017
Job paused
	Declan Kearney	Sinn Féin	11 January 2020	5 May 2022

Other Important Roles

Sometimes, other roles are created to help ministers. These roles are not as high-ranking as Junior Ministers, but they are still important for people learning about government.

Assembly Private Secretary Role

After the 2011 election in Northern Ireland, the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness created a new job called Assembly Private Secretary. This job was for all ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.

This role is similar to a "parliamentary private secretary" in the UK's House of Commons. These secretaries help ministers with their political work within their department. They don't get paid for this specific role, and it's usually held by a regular member of the Assembly (a "backbencher") from the same political party as the minister.

Even though it's not a full ministerial job, it gives members good experience if they want to become ministers in the future. Ministers don't have to appoint an Assembly Private Secretary if they don't want to. For example, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland didn't choose to appoint any at first.

In 2011, government officials were working on rules for these new jobs. By October 2011, the rules hadn't been officially published, so the jobs weren't fully set up by the Northern Ireland Assembly. However, they were listed as public roles in official records in June and October 2011.

People Considered for Assembly Private Secretary

Here are some of the people who were considered for these roles:

Democratic Unionist Party

Paul Girvan MLA (for the Executive Office)
Alastair Ross MLA (for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment)
Simon Hamilton MLA (for the Department of Finance and Personnel)
Alex Easton MLA (for the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety)
William Humphrey MLA (for the Department for Social Development)

Sinn Féin

Pat Doherty MP MLA (for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development)
Barry McElduff MLA (for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure)
Mitchel McLaughlin MLA (for the Department of Education)

Sinn Féin used a different name for this job, calling it Parliamentary Under Secretary.

Ulster Unionist Party

Danny Kinahan MLA (for the Department for Regional Development)

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Colum Eastwood MLA (for the Department of the Environment)

Images for kids

Ian Paisley Jr.
Jonathan Bell
Michelle McIlveen
Emma Pengelly
Alastair Ross
Gordon Lyons
Gary Middleton
Gerry Kelly
Martina Anderson
Jennifer McCann
Megan Fearon
Declan Kearney

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Junior Minister (Northern Ireland) facts for kids

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