Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to identify the most significant developments in the governance arrangements for and the content of social policy in Northern Ireland during the period of devolution introduced by the Labour government in 1999. This period of devolution existed from 1999 to October 2002.

Protracted and difficult political negotiations in 1997 culminated in what is variously called The Belfast Agreement, the Good Friday Agreement (NIO, 1998) and the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement (Irish Government, 1998). The Agreement made provision for a form of devolved government in Northern Ireland. These provisions were subsequently legislated for in the 1998 Northern Ireland Act. The Act is not only a piece of UK legislation but an international treaty, specifically a treaty between the British and Irish governments.

The period 1999-2002 was a turbulent one politically. Four periods of short-term suspension of the devolved institutions occurred prior to the suspension, which began in October 2002 and which remained in force at the time of writing. The on and off nature of devolution was thus so great that this chapter came near to being titled ‘The devolution year’ rather than ‘the devolution years’.

As seems always to be the case with Northern Ireland, even a short period of history such as the one under consideration here requires considerable explanation in order to render it meaningful and relevant to the external observer. A further objective of this chapter is therefore to set Northern Ireland's 21st-century experience of devolution in the context of the territory's prior experiences of devolution on the one hand, and the broader devolution experience of the UK as a whole at the turn of the 21st century on the other.

The first section of the chapter summarises key features of the history of social policy in and governance arrangements for Northern Ireland since its inception in 1922.

The second section reports on the main aspects of policy divergence and convergence in the 1999-2002 period, and describes the institutions established under devolution during that time.

The third section of the chapter notes the most significant developments that began during devolution and that have been carried forward in the post-devolution ‘direct rule’ period of 2002-04.