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 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 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. Following a
referendum on the
Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of
royal assent to the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a
Northern Ireland Assembly and
Northern Ireland Executive were established by the
United Kingdom Government under Prime Minister
Tony Blair. The process was known as
devolution and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DoE was one of the six direct rule Northern Ireland departments that continued in existence after devolution in December 1999 by the
Northern Ireland Act 1998 and
The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999. A devolved minister first took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of
direct rule ministers from the
Northern Ireland Office: • between 12 February 2000 and 30 May 2000; • on 11 August 2001; • on 22 September 2001; • between 15 October 2002 and 8 May 2007. == Ministers of the Environment ==