- In the first two years following its resumption, ten laws were passed at Stormont.
- One of those laws involved giving decision-making powers on MLA salaries to an Independent Remuneration Board (IRB). It was the board that decided a pay rise was appropriate and set the rate (a 27% rise coming into effect next week).
- By the time this claim was made – weeks after the second anniversary of restoration – an eleventh piece of legislation had also received Royal Assent and became law.
- While any MLA can table legislation, the inclusion of the SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole alongside pictures of other senior MLAs from the four parties in government is unfortunate.
In a social media post made on 20 February, the Green Party of Northern Ireland (GPNI) stated that, since its resumption following the last collapse, Stormont has only passed ten laws. Specifically, the post said:
“Two years in. Just ten laws passed. Including to farm out a 27% pay rise decision. You couldn’t make it up.”
Figure 1 – source: GPNI social media
There are two parts to this claim:
- Stormont has passed ten laws in two years.
- These laws include a delegation on wages leading to a 27% pay rise.
Both of these are supported by evidence.
In the two years following the resumption of Stormont on 3 February 2024, ten new laws were enacted within the institutions.
However, by the time GPNI made this social media post (just over two weeks after the second anniversary of the resumption), an eleventh law had been passed.
It’s worth noting that GPNI included an image of SDLP MLA and Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole in its graphic. Neither he nor his party are actually in government and, while not all legislation is Executive legislation, it is misleading to suggest he carries the same levels of responsibility for enacting law as the actual government. Other MLAs who are not associated with the Executive, but who can also table legislation, are not part of the GPNI image.
The only non-Executive legislation to have passed is the one delegating powers regarding MLA salaries to an Independent Remuneration Board (IRB). Earlier this month, the IRB determined that, starting in April, MLAs will get a 27% pay rise.
For more information – and some pedantry – read on.
- Source
FactCheckNI asked the Green Party about this claim. They responded by pointing us to the record of Primary Legislation at Stormont in the current mandate. They also stated:
“Looking at the bills that have received royal assent between start of Feb 24 and start of Feb 26, I believe there were 10 (now up to 12) including budget bills.”
This, as you will see, is correct – although there are some (potentially pedantic) points to be ironed out around dates that this article will expand on further down.
For now we will just point out that, while the current mandate technically covers 2022-27, it effectively started on 3 February 2024 when Executive Ministers were appointed.
For now, let’s look at some civics.
- What is a law?
Northern Ireland’s devolved government operates within the wider legal framework of the United Kingdom. It has the power to formulate its own legislation across large areas of policy and law.
Figure 1 – source: NI Assembly
A bill is a piece of legislation that proposes a new law. A bill moved forward within the NI institutions becomes law once it has passed all legislative stages in the Assembly (see Figure 1, above) and finally receives Royal Assent – a formal process (an, in every sense, a formality) whereby the reigning monarch agrees to turn a bill into an act.
Note that exactly when an act comes into effect can vary. An act can become legally enforceable immediately, the day after Royal Assent, incrementally in numerous stages, or following a commencement order at a later date and after a specified time frame.
- The current mandate
The NI Assembly keeps an online record of acts passed during the current mandate. At the time of writing, twelve have been passed – the most recent being the Budget Act (Northern Ireland) 2026, which received Royal Assent on 20 March, which comes after the Green Party’s social media post and therefore is irrelevant to this claim.
The other eleven are:
Figure 2 – source: NI Assembly
By the time of the second anniversary of Stormont’s resumption, on 3 February this year, ten acts (or laws) had indeed been passed by the institutions.
On this reading, there is good evidence to support the first part of the claim.
- Some pedantry
While ten acts received Royal Assent in the first two years following the resumption of the Assembly, An eleventh act had become law – the School Uniforms (Guidances and Allowances) Bill – by the time the Green Party’s social media post was made on 20 February.
This bill received Royal Assent on 19 February with significant parts of the act coming into immediate effect the following day (see Part 3 of the legislation itself).
- A word on the SDLP
The GPNI post includes images of five different MLAs, each of them either leaders of their party or the senior-most politician from their party in the Assembly.
Four of the parties in question – Sinn Féin, DUP, Alliance Party and UUP – are part of the Executive.
The fifth party in question is the SDLP and the MLA used in the image is in fact Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole.
Now, not all laws have to be made by the Executive and any MLA is able to table legislation (as can committees), but the Executive effectively sets the tone and bears the primary responsibility for passage of legislation. There is a difference between being inside and outside of government.
It is misleading to include Mr O’Toole in this graphic and omit other non-Executive parties and representatives (TUV’s Timothy Gaston, People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll and independent unionist Claire Sugden) from the image. The Leader of the Opposition has been publicly critical about the slow progress made on legislation in this mandate (see a previous fact check from us on this very topic).
- Pay rise
It’s fair to say that MLAs agreed to farm out decisions on whether or not to increase their pay, and by how much, to an independent body as part of a law that was passed.
This refers to the Assembly Members (Independent Remuneration Board) Act, which began life as a Non-Executive Bill moved forwards by the Assembly Commission which has “the responsibility … to provide the Assembly, or ensure that the Assembly is provided with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly to carry out its work.”
The effect of the Act was to empower an Independent Remuneration Board (IRB) to determine the salaries and pensions of MLAs.
The scale of the rise – standard MLA pay will increase by 26.8% from £53,000 to £67,200 – was not farmed out.
The board published a report with salary determinations on 12 March this year. These are as follows:
Figure 3 – source: IRB report
Taken altogether, this provides good evidence to support the second part of the claim.
The board’s report also includes financial sanctions for members should the Executive ever collapse again:
“MLA salaries would be reduced by 10% after week six, a further 10% after week 12, and another 10% after week 18, should government formation not occur within the six-month statutory period.”
Hypothetically, if the Executive failed to form from 1 April 2026 onwards, as it stands the lowest an MLA’s salary could drop to is £48,988.90. MLA salaries are currently £53,000, so the worst sanction an MLA can receive for failing to form and maintain an Executive is a wage roughly £4,000 less than the current level.
- Further context
Passing legislation is not the end of the story.
While the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Bill introduced by the then Green Party MLA Rachel Woods passed its final stage on 24 March 2022 (the last day of the previous Assembly mandate) and gained Royal Assent on 12 May 2022, following a period of consultation and a long delay, the new miscarriage leave and pay entitlements will only come into effect in April 2026.
Another consideration is whether ten is a large or a small number of laws in the first two years of a new mandate?
17 bills received Royal Assent in the first two years of the 2011 mandate.
Following the May 2017 election, the Executive wasn’t formed until 11 January 2020. Stormont then ran for just over two years (until the resignation of the First Minister Paul Givan in early February 2022). Within the first two years, 13 bills had received Royal Assent in the Assembly.
