Northern Ireland Office - Role

Role

The NIO’s role is to “maintain and support” the devolution settlement resulting from the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews Agreement and the devolution of criminal justice and policing to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The department has responsibility for:

  • electoral law
  • human rights and equality
  • national security in Northern Ireland
  • the UK Government’s approach to the legacy of the Troubles

It also represents Northern Ireland interests at UK Government level and the interests of the UK Government in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Office has a close working relationship with the Irish Government as a co-guarantor of the peace process; this includes the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and its joint secretariat.

In the Irish Government, the NIO's main counterparts are:

  • the Department of Foreign Affairs (on the peace process);
  • the Department of the Taoiseach (supporting the role of the Taoiseach in the peace process);
  • the Department of Justice and Equality (on national security matters and the legacy of the Troubles);
  • the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (on electoral law).

Read more about this topic:  Northern Ireland Office

Famous quotes containing the word role:

    “Whether or not you have children yourself, you are a parent to the next generation. If we can only stop thinking of children as individual property and think of them as the next generation, then we can realize we all have a role to play.”
    —Charlotte Davis Kasl (20th century)

    “Such is the role of poetry. It unveils, in the strict sense of the word. It lays bare, under a light which shakes off torpor, the surprising things which surround us and which our senses record mechanically.”
    —Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)

    “The Declaration [of Independence] was not a protest against government, but against the excess of government. It prescribed the proper role of government, to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this alone. So government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good.”
    —Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)