To What Extent Was the Executive Committtee Effective in Providing Good Government for Northern Ireland

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Access the extent to which the executive committee has succeeded in providing effective government for Northern Ireland? (26) One of the main factors used to judge the success of devolution in Northern Ireland is and will continue to be the effectiveness of the Executive Committee in governing Northern Ireland. The success of the committee can be judged by the record of the executive set up after 1998 and its strengths and weaknesses in the government they have provided. The first executive government was set up in 1998 and lasted until 2002. Strengths of the executive in its first term were at its first meeting in July 1998, the assembly elected on cross-community basis on a first minister and deputy first minister. The assembly also appointed 10 ministers with responsibility for each of the Northern Ireland departments. The first minister voted in was David Trimble and the deputy was Seamus Mallon. The executive proofed in its first term that it could work collectively and effectively as it successfully developed and published a programme for government. This was an important way of showing that the 4 party committee could and was working collectively and effectively. It was heralded as marking the end of ‘hand me down policies’. One of the main aims of the programme was to improve public services in Northern Ireland. The new executive also succeeded in acting together to produce a budget and to introduce over 54 executive and non-executive bills since it began as legislator from 1999 until suspension in 2002. Though the executive seemed to working fine in its first term there were many weaknesses within in it. Party differences brought down the assembly in particular many unionists found it difficult or even impossible to work with Sinn Fein. There were many false starts and issues which couldn’t be agreed on. Decommissioning was one of those issues,
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