Department overview | |
---|---|
Formed | Unknown (on or before 1 January 1974) |
Preceding Department | |
Dissolved | 6 May 2016 |
Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
Headquarters | Clarence Court, 10–18 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GB |
Employees | 2,681 (September 2011) |
Annual budget | £127.0 million (current) & £5.1 million (capital) for 2011–12 |
Website | www.doeni.gov.uk |
The Department of the Environment (DOE or DOENI; Irish: An Roinn Comhshaoil;Ulster-Scots: Männystrie o tha Kintraside) was a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department was the Minister for the Environment.
The DOE's overall aim was to "work in partnership" with the public, private and voluntary sectors to promote the "economic and social welfare of the community" through "promoting sustainable development and seeking to secure a better and safer environment for everyone".
The last Minister was Mark H. Durkan (Social Democratic and Labour Party).
The main policy responsibilities of the department were:
The DOE's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government were:
In the Irish Government, its main counterparts were:
The Ministry of Home Affairs was established on the formation of Northern Ireland in June 1921 and was responsible for a range of non-economic domestic matters, including local government. A separate Ministry of Health and Local Government was formed in 1944 and was subsequently split in 1965, to create the Ministry of Development. An environment ministry existed in the 1974 Northern Ireland Executive and the ministry was known as the Department of the Environment under direct rule.
The DoE is still a phrase used in everyday language in Northern Ireland to describe the Roads Service, which was once run by the department but is currently an agency of the separate Department for Regional Development.