First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland

The First Minister and the deputy First Minister (Irish: Céad-Aire agus an leas-Chéad-Aire, Ulster Scots: Heid Männystèr an tha Heid Männystèr depute),Policing and Justice Process Paper  Northern Ireland Executive (FM/dFM for short), are jobs in the Northern Ireland Executive. The First Minister is not more important than the deputy First Minister.  The two positions are a diarchy, meaning they have equal power; both are nominated and appointed by members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Currently, the position is vacant since the resignation of Paul Givan (DUP) as First Minister in February 2022.  Before however, the incumbents were Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party as First Minister and Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin as deputy First Minister.Devolved Government - Ministers and their departments  Northern Ireland Executive

Election

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are divided into two groups, Nationalists and Unionists (although there are also some independent or "Other" members).

The First Minister and the deputy First Minister are elected on a joint ticket. Under the St Andrews Agreement, the Leader of the largest party nominates the First Minister, and the leader of the next largest party that is in the other group nominates the deputy First Minister.

Their joint nomination has to obtain an overall majority in the Assembly along with a majority of both designated Nationalist MLAs and designated Unionist MLAs. Designated Other MLAs also vote.

This diarchy was created to enable the leaders of the main unionist and nationalist parties to work together as a team jointly representing both communities.

 "Deputy" becomes "deputy" 
The first two holders of the office now known as "deputy First Minister", namely Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan, were both referred to during their periods of office as "Deputy First Minister", with a capital D. This version was also adopted in 1999 for the logo of the OFMDFM.

Several weeks after Martin McGuinness took up office as Deputy First Minister in 2007, civil servants began asking the Assembly's Hansard team to replace the capital D with a lower-case d, deputy was spelled this way in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the legislation which created the office.

It was neither Mr McGuinness nor his advisers who asked for the change. The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, William Hay, ordered the change and the capital D was dropped from Hansard references. The Office of the First and deputy First Minister still uses both versions of Mr McGuinness' title on their website, and their archive of press releases has been changed, but the capital D still appears in some places, and a spokesman confirmed on 20 March 2008 that the office has "no plans" to change the OFMDFM logo. However, the Assembly committee that looks at their work is now listed as the "Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister". It was decided that Mr McGuinness should be the deputy First Minister, unless all the other letters in the title are in capitals. Confusion is not completely resolved however; if Mr McGuinness writes to the Assembly committee, his note will have a letterhead that comes from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, but he'll get a reply back from the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister.Martin's D-lemma: lowering the case of the minister's title took top aides weeks Belfast Telegraph, 21 March 2008

 First Ministers and deputy First Ministers 
 Parties

First Minister of Northern IrelandDeputy First Minister of Northern IrelandGovernmentElectionsNamePortraitTerm of officeNamePortraitTerm of office David Trimble 75px 1 July 1998 1 July 2001 Seamus Mallon 75px 1 July 1998 6 November 2001 First Executive  Reg Empey 75px 1 July 2001(acting)6 November 2001 David Trimble 75px 6 November 2001 14 October 2002 Mark Durkan 75px 6 November 2001 14 October 2002 Offices vacant  Ian Paisley 75px 8 May 2007 5 June 2008 Martin McGuinness 75px 8 May 2007 20 September 2011 Second Executive  Peter Robinson 75px 5 June 2008 11 January 2010 Arlene Foster 75px 11 January 2010(acting) 3 February 2010 Peter Robinson 75px 3 February 2010 10 September 2015 John O'Dowd 75px 20 September 2011(acting) 31 October 2011 Third Executive  Martin McGuinness 75px 31 October 2011 9 January 2017 Arlene Foster 75px 10 September 2015(acting) 20 October 2015 Peter Robinson 75px 20 October 2015 11 January 2016 Arlene Foster 75px 11 January 2016 9 January 2017 Fourth Executive  Offices vacant  Arlene Foster 75px 11 January 2020 14 June 2021 Michelle O'Neill 75px 11 January 2020 14 June 2021 Fifth Executive Paul Givan 75px 17 June 2021 4 February 2022 17 June 2021 4 February 2022 Offices vacant 

References

Other websites
 OFMDFM

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Category:1999 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:20th-century establishments in Northern Ireland
Category:Collective heads of government