page_title: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Dundonald House, Belfast
context_page_description: The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is a government department in the Northern Ireland Executive, the devolved administration for Northern Ireland. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The department was called the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development between 1999 and 2016 and was previously known as the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland or the Ministry of Agriculture. The department's Permanent Secretary is Denis McMahon
context_section_description: As with the governance of Northern Ireland more generally, the history of the department and its predecessors can be divided into the following main periods:
  Dublin Castle administration (prior to 1921)
  Government of Northern Ireland (officially the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland, 1921–1972)
  direct rule administration by the United Kingdom Government (1972–1999)
  Northern Ireland Executive (1999–2017, with direct rule during suspensions)
  Northern Ireland Civil Service administration (in the absence of an Executive)
  The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI), established by Horace Plunkett was responsible for agricultural policy for the whole island of Ireland under the Dublin Castle administration from 1899 onwards. A separate Ministry of Agriculture was established at the foundation of Northern Ireland in 1921, with Sir Edward Archdale as its initial minister. The last Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland was the Agriculture (Abolition of County Committees) Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, which received royal assent on 28 March 1972.
  This was subsequently known as the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland under direct rule; Northern Ireland was included in the Common Agricultural Policy from January 1973, when the UK joined the European Union. An agricultural ministry with an Ulster Unionist Party minister, Leslie Morrell, was included in the cross-community Northern Ireland Executive which was briefly established in 1974.
  Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement in May 1998 and the granting of royal assent to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the United Kingdom Government. The Department of Agriculture was renamed as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in December 1999 and granted a slightly reduced remit; responsibility for inland fisheries and waterways was transferred to the newly formed Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office i.e. between 12 February 2000 and 30 May 2000; on 11 August 2001; on 22 September 2001; and (most significantly) between 15 October 2002 and 8 May 2007. Devolution was restored in May 2007.
  The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) was established in May 2016, following a reduction in the number of government departments under the Fresh Start Agreement.  The main changes relating to its remit were as follows:
  the new department inherited the main functions of the former Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
  environmental regulation was transferred into its remit from the former Department of the Environment
  the Rivers Agency (responsible for rivers and flooding policy) was transferred to the new Department for Infrastructure
  inland fisheries was transferred back from DCAL (which had received that responsibility in 1999)
  DCAL was dissolved and inland waterways was transferred to the new Department for Communities
  Devolution continued until all ministerial offices were vacated on 26 January 2017, due to a political dispute between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin.
caption: Dundonald House, headquarters of DAERA.
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