Junior Minister (Northern Ireland)

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The term Junior Minister, in Northern Ireland, is the name given to two positions in the Executive Office, a department in the Northern Ireland Executive answerable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

The positions have been filled by Aisling Reilly and Pam Cameron since 3 February 2024.

Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998,^[1] the First Minister and Deputy First Minister acting jointly may determine that a number of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly shall be appointed as junior ministers.

The salary of each junior minister in 2007–2008 (when devolution was restored) was £60,067.42,^[2] which decreased to the current level of £55,000.00 in 2016.^[3][4][5]

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) called for the immediate abolition of the junior minister positions in its 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election manifesto.^[6]

	Minister	Image	Party	Took office	Left office
	Dermot Nesbitt		UUP	15 December 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	Dermot Nesbitt		UUP	30 May 2000	20 February 2002[7]
	James Leslie		UUP	20 February 2002	14 October 2002
Office suspended
	Ian Paisley, Jr.		DUP	8 May 2007	26 February 2008
	Jeffrey Donaldson		DUP	26 February 2008	1 July 2009
	Robin Newton		DUP	1 July 2009	16 May 2011
	Jonathan Bell		DUP	16 May 2011	11 May 2015
	Michelle McIlveen		DUP	11 May 2015	28 October 2015
	Emma Pengelly		DUP	28 October 2015	25 May 2016
	Alastair Ross		DUP	25 May 2016	9 January 2017
Office suspended
	Gordon Lyons		DUP	11 January 2020	2 February 2021
	Gary Middleton		DUP	2 February 2021 (Acting)	8 March 2021
	Gordon Lyons		DUP	8 March 2021	17 June 2021
	Gary Middleton		DUP	17 June 2021	5 May 2022
Office suspended
	Aisling Reilly		Sinn Féin	3 February 2024	Incumbent

	Minister	Image	Party	Took office	Left office
	Denis Haughey		SDLP	2 December 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	Denis Haughey		SDLP	30 May 2000	14 October 2002[8]
Office suspended
	Gerry Kelly		Sinn Féin	8 May 2007	16 May 2011
	Martina Anderson		Sinn Féin	16 May 2011	12 June 2012
	Jennifer McCann		Sinn Féin	12 June 2012	25 May 2016
	Megan Fearon		Sinn Féin	25 May 2016	9 January 2017
Office suspended
	Declan Kearney		Sinn Féin	11 January 2020	5 May 2022
Office suspended
	Pam Cameron		DUP	3 February 2024	Incumbent

Following the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness announced the creation of the new post of Assembly Private Secretary, available to all ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The position is similar to that of a parliamentary private secretary in the House of Commons, providing political support to the Minister within the department. It is non-salaried and held by a backbencher from the same party as the Minister. While not ministerial, and therefore below the rank of Junior Minister, it provides experience to members considered as potential future ministers. It is not compulsory to appoint an Assembly Private Secretary; indeed the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland initially did not make appointments.

As of May 2011, OFMDFM officials were drawing up a code of conduct and enabling processes to facilitate the creation of the posts.^[9] None had been published by October 2011, meaning that the posts had not been created by the Northern Ireland Assembly up to that point. However, they were declared as public offices in the register of members' interests on 29 June 2011 and 7 October 2011.^[10][11]

The prospective Assembly Private Secretaries are:

Democratic Unionist Party ^[12]

• Paul Girvan MLA (OFMDFM)
• Alastair Ross MLA (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment)
• Simon Hamilton MLA (Department of Finance and Personnel)
• Alex Easton MLA (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety)
• William Humphrey MLA (Department for Social Development)

Sinn Féin^[13]

• Pat Doherty MP MLA (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development)
• Barry McElduff MLA (Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure)
• Mitchel McLaughlin MLA (Department of Education)

Sinn Féin has adopted the term Parliamentary Under Secretary to describe the position.

Ulster Unionist Party^[14]

• Danny Kinahan MLA (Department for Regional Development)

Social Democratic and Labour Party^[15]

• Colum Eastwood MLA (Department of the Environment)

• Executive Office (Northern Ireland)
• First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
• List of government ministers in Northern Ireland

• Executive Office