Government of Northern Ireland
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The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland.
Following the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland was recognised as a separate territory within the authority of the British Crown on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920.[1] The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster, being four counties with unionist majorities (Antrim, Armagh, Down and Londonderry), and Fermanagh and Tyrone two of the five Ulster counties which had nationalist majorities.[2] In large part unionists, at least in the north east region, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed. Subsequently, on 6 December 1922, the island of Ireland became an independent dominion known as the Irish Free State but Northern Ireland immediately exercised its right to opt out of the new Dominion.
The first government of Northern Ireland was the
See also
References
- ^ Statutory Rules & Orders published by authority, 1921 (No. 533); Additional source for 3 May 1921 date: Alvin Jackson, Home Rule - An Irish History, Oxford University Press, 2004, p198.
- ^ "The Irish Election of 1918". Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2011.