The Consociational Model and Question Time in the Northern Ireland Assembly: Policy Issues, Procedural Reforms and Executive Accountability, 2007–2011

Abstract

Little is known about comparative innovations in question time procedure in Northern Ireland. This research provides an exploratory analysis of 1,999 oral questions to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, and 31,664 questions posed to other ministers in the four legislative sessions from 2007 to 2011. The theoretical framework focuses on how the practice of parliamentary questions reflects the consociational model of governance taking shape in the Stormont Assembly. The study accentuates a decline in the number of questions posed to the dual executive and other ministers over time – a dynamic that represents a purposeful effort on the part of the Assembly to decrease the number of questions through procedural reform, with the objective of obtaining more substantive answers. The findings also show that parliamentary questions on economic issues increased, but community issues remained a dominant policy concern across time. Finally, the analysis shows substantive responses were the norm among both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Responses by ministers with portfolio were more variable.