A blog from the Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service

Governance Blog Archive

Here you will find an archive of Governance Blog articles published before 1 May 2022, divided into their relevant categories.

Brexit

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and Committee scrutiny

June 18, 2021

The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and Committee scrutiny By Emma Dellow-Perry & Aidan Stennett The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is part of the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and…

Gibraltar after the UK’s exit from the EU: A comparison with Northern Ireland

June 8, 2021

Gibraltar Following the United Kingdom’s (UK) exit from the European Union (EU), much debate was focussed on Northern Ireland’s unique position as part of the UK which has a…

Update – Data Protection Adequacy after the UK’s Exit from the EU

June 7, 2021

This post updates a previous article considering the complexities around data protection after the UK’s exit from the EU. Under the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement, the treaty between the…

Democracy and Government

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill: Back in the Commons

November 13, 2017

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the House of Commons this week. MPs will consider the Bill in a Committee of the whole House. The Bill repeals the European…

General election 2017: A detailed look at the result in Northern Ireland

June 20, 2017

The Westminster general election of 8 June 2017 resulted in a ‘hung parliament’, with the Conservatives as the largest party but without an overall majority. The result was: Conservative…

Transferred votes in the March 2017 Assembly Election

March 16, 2017

Transferred votes are an extremely important part of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. In the 2017 Assembly Election, only 18 MLAs had a sufficient number of first preference…

Justice

European Arrest Warrant: What next for Northern Ireland post-Brexit?

July 5, 2017

Mutual recognition and co-operation underpin many EU law provisions. This article looks at some of the legislative options for one particular provision following Brexit; the European Arrest Warrant (EAW)….

What are ‘Family, Drug and Alcohol Courts’ and are they effective?

November 11, 2016

The draft Programme for Government contains a commitment to running a pilot family drug and alcohol court in Northern Ireland. Such courts have been used in England for some…

The courts and the EU Referendum: a week of action

September 30, 2016

The past seven days have seen significant developments in relation to EU referendum related action in the courts at both local and UK level. This article provides an update…

Planning

A new mandate, a new Environment

May 3, 2016

Local government underwent significant structural change in 2015 with the number of councils reducing from 26 to 11, and the transfer of many functions from central to local government….

Statistics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Can surveys be supplemented and improved by social media based research? A case study of the Young Life & Times Survey

September 28, 2020

Sample opinion surveys are a well-established way to measure public opinion on contemporary affairs. However, the exponential growth of social media in the 21st century opens new possibilities in…

Is it possible to socially distance on our beaches?

July 15, 2020

With many international travel restrictions still in place, more people than ever will be opting for ‘staycations’ in Northern Ireland. This article provides the results of a spatial analysis…

The impact of COVID-19 on Northern Ireland

June 18, 2020

By Keara McKay & Thomas Procter Our new visualisation based on figures and analysis published in the public domain by Ulster Bank, Danske Bank, NISRA, PSNI and Google Mobility…