Surf Wiki
Save to docs
geography/ireland

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Junior Minister (Northern Ireland)

Government position

Junior Minister (Northern Ireland)
Summary

Government position

Aisling Reilly is the incumbent junior Minister of Northern Ireland.
Joanne Bunting is the incumbent junior Minister of Northern Ireland.

The term junior Minister (), in Northern Ireland, is the name given to two positions in the Executive Office, a department in the Northern Ireland Executive answerable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

The positions have been filled by Aisling Reilly since 3 February 2024 and Joanne Bunting since 15 September 2025.

Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the First Minister and deputy First Minister acting jointly may determine that a number of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly shall be appointed as junior ministers.

The salary of each junior minister in 2007–2008 (when devolution was restored) was £60,067.42, which decreased to the current level of £55,000.00 in 2016.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) called for the immediate abolition of the junior minister positions in its 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election manifesto.

junior Ministers

Nominated by the First Minister

MinisterImagePartyTook officeLeft office
Ulster Unionist Party}}"Dermot Nesbitt[[File:No image.svg60px]]15 December 1999
Office suspended
Ulster Unionist Party}}"Dermot Nesbitt[[File:No image.svg60px]]30 May 2000
Ulster Unionist Party}}"James Leslie[[File:No image.svg60px]]20 February 2002
Office suspended
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Ian Paisley, Jr.[[File:Official portrait of Ian Paisley MP crop 2.jpg60px]]8 May 2007
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Jeffrey Donaldson26 February 2008
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Robin Newton[[File:No image.svg60px]]1 July 2009
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Jonathan Bell[[File:JonathanBellDUP.jpg60px]]16 May 2011
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Michelle McIlveen[[File:Michelle McIlveen DUP.jpg60px]]11 May 2015
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Emma Pengelly[[File:Official portrait of Emma Little Pengelly crop 2.jpg60px]]28 October 2015
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Alastair Ross[[File:Alastair Ross DUP.jpg60px]]25 May 2016
Office suspended
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Gordon Lyons[[File:Gordon Lyons 2021.jpg60px]]11 January 2020
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Gary Middleton[[File:Gary Middleton, DUP.jpg60px]]2 February 2021 (Acting)
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Gordon Lyons[[File:Gordon Lyons 2021.jpg60px]]8 March 2021
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Gary Middleton[[File:Gary Middleton, DUP.jpg60px]]17 June 2021
Office suspended
Sinn Féin}}"Aisling Reilly[[File:Aisling Reilly 2022 (cropped).jpg60px]]3 February 2024

Nominated by the deputy First Minister

MinisterImagePartyTook officeLeft office
Social Democratic and Labour Party}}"Denis Haughey[[File:No image.svg60px]]2 December 1999
Office suspended
Social Democratic and Labour Party}}"Denis Haughey[[File:No image.svg60px]]30 May 2000
Office suspended
Sinn Féin}}"Gerry Kelly[[File:Gerry Kelly, MLA.jpg60px]]8 May 2007
Sinn Féin}}"Martina Anderson[[File:Martina Anderson MEP, Strasbourg - Diliff.jpg60px]]16 May 2011
Sinn Féin}}"Jennifer McCann[[File:JenniferMcCann.jpg60px]]12 June 2012
Sinn Féin}}"Megan Fearon[[File:Megan Fearon.jpg60px]]25 May 2016
Office suspended
Sinn Féin}}"Declan Kearney[[File:Declan Kearney 2015.jpg60px]]11 January 2020
Office suspended
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Pam Cameron[[File:PamLewis.jpg60px]]3 February 2024
Democratic Unionist Party}}"Joanne Bunting[[File:Joanne_Bunting_2016.jpg60px]]15 September 2025

Assembly Private Secretary

Following the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness announced the creation of the new post of Assembly Private Secretary, available to all ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The position is similar to that of a parliamentary private secretary in the House of Commons, providing political support to the Minister within the department. It is non-salaried and held by a backbencher from the same party as the Minister. While not ministerial, and therefore below the rank of junior Minister, it provides experience to members considered as potential future ministers. It is not compulsory to appoint an Assembly Private Secretary; indeed the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland initially did not make appointments.

As of May 2011, OFMDFM officials were drawing up a code of conduct and enabling processes to facilitate the creation of the posts. None had been published by October 2011, meaning that the posts had not been created by the Northern Ireland Assembly up to that point. However, they were declared as public offices in the register of members' interests on 29 June 2011 and 7 October 2011.

References

References

  1. (14 February 2024). "'Moill á cur in aon turas ar choistí cróinéara sa Tuaisceart'".
  2. (2025-09-15). "Joanne Bunting appointed junior Minister in DUP reshuffle - Northern Ireland Elects".
  3. "Northern Ireland Act 1998".
  4. "Members' Salaries 2007–2008, Northern Ireland Assembly".
  5. "Members' Salaries 2008–2009, Northern Ireland Assembly".
  6. "Members' Salaries 2009–2010, Northern Ireland Assembly".
  7. "Northern Ireland Assembly".
  8. (2011). "SDLP Manifesto: Assembly & Local Government Elections 2011". SDLP.
  9. Office suspended for 24 hours on 11 August 2001 and 22 September 2001
  10. (16 May 2011). "Assembly Private Secretaries to be appointed to Government departments". Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.
  11. (28 June 2011). "Register of Members' Interests (last updated 29 June 2011)". Northern Ireland Assembly.
  12. (7 October 2011). "Register of Members' Interests (last updated 7 October 2011)". Northern Ireland Assembly.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

northern-ireland-executive
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Junior Minister (Northern Ireland) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report