JUNE 2009
Assess the extent to which the Assembly has made the government of Northern Ireland more democratic. [26]

The assembly of Northern Ireland which was established after the Good Friday Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 has for various reasons made NI more democratic. Under The GFA and consequently the St Andrews agreement the democratic deficit no longer exists that was evident under direct rule, the representative and scrutiny functions now in place can be viewed as more democratic to a certain extent while the power sharing executive formed from the assembly has also provided more democracy. There are however limitations with the assembly that suggest it is not totally more democratic and still lacks complete democracy.

The fact a scrutiny function is now in place suggests there is more democracy. Under direct rule this was non-existent with policies made by MPs from Westminster not being scrutinised and with MPs not being held accountable. Now within the assembly the committees take on the role of scrutiny. The main form of scrutiny comes from statutory committees. They hold the executive to account by examining each department and their ministers. They do this by looking at the actions and policies of the minister and suggesting amendments, criticising the minister and proposing legislation. They have the power to get expertise f...

1998 2007 2009 2011 26 29 36 40 50 55 6 60 69 abl abort absenc account achiev across act action actual administ agre agreement alex allianc alloc alreadi also although alway amend andrew anyth arbitrari around arrang ask assembl assert assess attain attend attwood awar back basi better bill bond brought cabinet carv certain chang clear climat coalit collect come committe communiti complet concern conflict consequ constitu consult contribut control council counterpart countri creat credit criticis cross current d damag debat decid decis defeat deficit democraci democrat depart design desir differ dimens direct distribut document domest done doubt dowd dup ec econom effect either elect elector element enough environment equival establish even everi evid examin exampl execut exist expertis extent fact fair far feel fein first forc form forward friday full function fundament futur get gfa give given go good govern great growth happen harsh held hold hont howev ignor import includ individu influenc institut interest involv ireland isol issu john june knock lack larg last legisl like limit longer look made main major make mean minist ministeri mlas monday mps nationalist natur need nhs ni non non-exist northern number o occur ofmdfm old one opportun opposit outsid overal parallel parti particip past peopl per perman person place plan polici posit post power present produc proport propos provid provinc public rang rare reach real reason recent reduc reform remain repres represent respect respons right role rule scrutini scrutinis sdlp seat seem share show side simpli singl sinn smaller someth spread st statement statutori still stop strength style suggest system take target term thing though time total transfer tuesday two unabl undemocrat unionist us uup various view vote way weight welfar well westminst wholli wide within won work