Northern Ireland Executive (1974)

Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly
1974 Executive of Northern Ireland
Date formed	1 January 1974
Date dissolved	28 May 1974
People and organisations
Head of government	Brian Faulkner
Deputy head of government	Gerry Fitt
Head of state	Elizabeth II
Number of ministers	9
Member party	UUP (pro-assembly) SDLP Alliance
Status in legislature	Coalition
History
Election(s)	1973 assembly election
Legislature term(s)	1973 Assembly
Predecessor	Faulkner ministry
Successor	Direct rule (1974–98) 1st Executive of Northern Ireland

A power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive was formed following the Northern Ireland Assembly elections of 1973. The executive served as the devolved government of Northern Ireland from 1 January 1974 until its collapse on 28 May 1974.

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 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, 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.

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