Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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[[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election|Elections]] to a Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 28 June 1973. On 21 November, the [[Sunningdale Agreement]] was reached on a voluntary coalition of pro-agreement parties, and the Executive took office on 1 January 1974. Prominent members of the executive included former [[Ulster Unionist Party]] [[Prime Minister (Northern Ireland)|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Faulkner]] as Chief Executive, then [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] (SDLP) leader [[Gerry Fitt]] as Deputy Chief Executive, future Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader [[John Hume]] as Minister for Commerce and then leader of the [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland]] [[Oliver Napier]] as Legal Minister and head of the [[Office of Law Reform]].

The UUP was deeply divided; its Standing Committee voted to participate in the executive by a margin of only 132 to 105. Since the [[partition of Ireland]], [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]] had been opposed to sharing power with the [[Irish nationalist]] minority and the end of [[majoritarianism]] caused great strife in the UUP. Other contentious issues were [[internment]], policing and the question of the planned [[Council of Ireland (1970s)|Council of Ireland]].

After opposition from within the UUP and the [[Ulster Workers' Council strike]], the executive and Assembly collapsed on 28 May 1974 when Faulkner resigned as Chief Executive.