Committee for Justice

The Committee for Justice is a Northern Ireland Assembly committee established to advise, assist and scrutinise the work of the Department of Justice and the Minister of Justice (currently Naomi Long).^[1] The Committee undertakes a scrutiny, policy development and consultation role with respect to the Department of Justice and plays a key role in the consideration and development of legislation.

The committee was created following the devolution of policing and justice on 12 April 2010, as a result of the Hillsborough Castle Agreement, agreed under the premiership of Gordon Brown on 5 February 2010.^[2]

2022–2027 Assembly

The committee met for the first time in the 2022–2027 Assembly on 15 February 2024.

Party		Member[3]	Constituency
	DUP	Joanne Bunting MLA (Chairperson)	Belfast East
	Sinn Féin	Deirdre Hargey MLA (Deputy Chairperson)	Belfast South
	UUP	Doug Beattie MLA	Upper Bann
	DUP	Maurice Bradley MLA	East Londonderry
	Alliance	Stewart Dickson MLA	East Antrim
	Ind. Unionist	Alex Easton MLA	North Down
	Sinn Féin	Sinéad Ennis MLA	South Down
	Sinn Féin	Ciara Ferguson MLA	Foyle
	Ind. Nationalist	Justin McNulty MLA	Newry and Armagh

2017–2022 Assembly

The committee met for the first time in the 2017–2022 Assembly on 22 January 2020.^[4]

Party		Member[5]	Constituency
	DUP	Paul Givan MLA (Chairperson)	Lagan Valley
	Sinn Féin	Linda Dillon MLA (Deputy Chairperson)	Mid Ulster
	UUP	Doug Beattie MLA	Upper Bann
	DUP	Gordon Dunne MLA	North Down
	DUP	Paul Frew MLA	North Antrim
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney MLA	Foyle
	SDLP	Patsy McGlone MLA	Mid Ulster
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan MLA	Belfast West
	Green (NI)	Rachel Woods MLA	North Down

Changes 2017–2022

Date	Outgoing member and party		Constituency	→	New member and party		Constituency
3 February 2020		Raymond McCartney MLA (Sinn Féin)	Foyle	→	Vacant
17 February 2020	Vacant			→		Martina Anderson MLA (Sinn Féin)	Foyle
9 March 2020		Martina Anderson MLA (Sinn Féin)	Foyle	→		Emma Rogan MLA (Sinn Féin)	South Down
16 March 2020		Pat Sheehan MLA (Sinn Féin)	Belfast West	→		Jemma Dolan MLA (Sinn Féin)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
26 May 2020		Patsy McGlone MLA (SDLP)	Mid Ulster	→		Sinéad Bradley MLA (SDLP)	South Down
3 November 2020		Karen Mullan MLA (Sinn Féin)	Foyle	→		Pat Sheehan MLA (Sinn Féin)	Belfast West
14 June 2021		Paul Givan MLA (Chairperson, DUP)	Lagan Valley	→		Mervyn Storey MLA (Chairperson, DUP)	North Antrim
21 June 2021		Paul Frew MLA (DUP)	North Antrim	→		Robin Newton MLA (DUP)	Belfast North
		Gordon Dunne MLA (DUP)	North Down			Peter Weir MLA (DUP)	Strangford
2 August 2021		Linda Dillon MLA (Deputy Chairperson, Sinn Féin)	Mid Ulster	→		Sinéad Ennis MLA (Deputy Chairperson, Sinn Féin)	South Down

Source:^[6]

2016–2017 Assembly

The committee met for the first time in the 2016–2017 Assembly on 1 June 2016.^[7]

Party		Member[8]	Constituency
	DUP	Paul Frew MLA (Chairperson)	North Antrim
	DUP	Pam Cameron MLA (Deputy Chairperson)	South Antrim
	SDLP	Alex Attwood MLA	Belfast West
	Green (NI)	Clare Bailey MLA	Belfast South
	UUP	Doug Beattie MLA	Upper Bann
	UUP	Roy Beggs Jr MLA	East Antrim
	Sinn Féin	Michaela Boyle MLA	West Tyrone
	DUP	Sammy Douglas MLA	Belfast East
	Sinn Féin	Declan Kearney MLA	South Antrim
	Alliance	Trevor Lunn MLA	Lagan Valley
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan MLA	Belfast West

2011–2016 Assembly

The committee met for the first time in the 2011–2016 Assembly on 26 May 2011.^[9]

Party		Member[10]	Constituency
	DUP	Paul Givan MLA (Chairperson)	Lagan Valley
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney MLA (Deputy Chairperson)	Foyle
	DUP	Sydney Anderson MLA	Upper Bann
	Alliance	Stewart Dickson MLA	East Antrim
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood MLA	Foyle
	Sinn Féin	Seán Lynch MLA	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
	SDLP	Alban Maginness MLA	Belfast North
	Sinn Féin	Jennifer McCann MLA	Belfast West
	UUP	Basil McCrea MLA	Lagan Valley
	DUP	Peter Weir MLA	North Down
	DUP	Jim Wells MLA	South Down

Changes 2011–2016

Date	Outgoing member and party		Constituency	→	New member and party		Constituency
23 April 2012		Colum Eastwood MLA (SDLP)	Foyle	→		Patsy McGlone MLA (SDLP)	Mid Ulster
		Basil McCrea MLA (UUP)	Lagan Valley			Tom Elliott MLA (UUP)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
10 September 2012		Jennifer McCann MLA (Sinn Féin)	Belfast West	→		Rosie McCorley MLA (Sinn Féin)	Belfast West
1 October 2012		Sydney Anderson MLA (DUP)	Upper Bann	→		William Humphrey MLA (DUP)	Belfast North
		Peter Weir MLA (DUP)	North Down			Alex Easton MLA (DUP)	North Down
15 September 2013		Alex Easton MLA (DUP)	North Down	→		Sydney Anderson MLA (DUP)	Upper Bann
6 October 2014		Sydney Anderson MLA (DUP)	Upper Bann	→		Sammy Douglas MLA (DUP)	Belfast East
		William Humphrey MLA (DUP)	Belfast North			Paul Frew MLA (DUP)	North Antrim
		Jim Wells MLA (DUP)	South Down			Edwin Poots MLA (DUP)	Lagan Valley
		Rosie McCorley MLA (Sinn Féin)	Belfast West			Chris Hazzard MLA (DUP)	South Down
10 December 2014		Paul Givan MLA (Chairperson, DUP)	Lagan Valley	→		Alastair Ross MLA (Chairperson, DUP)	East Antrim
30 June 2015		Tom Elliott MLA (UUP)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone	→		Neil Somerville MLA (UUP)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
15 September 2015		Chris Hazzard MLA (Sinn Féin)	South Down	→		Bronwyn McGahan MLA (Sinn Féin)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
30 November 2015		Neil Somerville MLA (UUP)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone	→		Danny Kennedy MLA (UUP)	Newry and Armagh
8 February 2016		Patsy McGlone MLA (SDLP)	Mid Ulster	→		Alex Attwood MLA (SDLP)	Belfast West

2007–2011 Assembly

The committee met for the first time in the 2007–2011 Assembly on 22 April 2010.^[11]

Party		Member[12]	Constituency
	DUP	Maurice Morrow MLA (Chairperson)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
	Sinn Féin	Raymond McCartney MLA (Deputy Chairperson)	Foyle
	DUP	Jonathan Bell MLA	Strangford
	DUP	Jeffrey Donaldson MLA	Lagan Valley
	UUP	Tom Elliott MLA	Fermanagh and South Tyrone
	DUP	Jeffrey Donaldson MLA	Lagan Valley
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly MLA	Upper Bann
	SDLP	Alban Maginness MLA	Belfast North
	UUP	David McNarry MLA	Strangford
	Sinn Féin	Carál Ní Chuilín MLA	Belfast North
	DUP	Alastair Ross MLA	East Antrim

Changes 2007–2011

Date	Outgoing member and party		Constituency	→	New member and party		Constituency
25 May 2010		Dolores Kelly MLA (SDLP)	Upper Bann	→		Conall McDevitt MLA (SDLP)	Belfast South
10 June 2010		Jeffrey Donaldson MLA (DUP)	Lagan Valley	→	Vacant
25 June 2010		Alastair Ross MLA (DUP)	East Antrim	→	Vacant
28 June 2010	Vacant			→		Paul Givan MLA (DUP)	Lagan Valley
21 July 2010		Jonathan Bell MLA (DUP)	Strangford	→	Vacant
14 September 2009	Vacant			→		Wallace Browne MLA (DUP)	Belfast East
	Vacant					Tom Buchanan MLA (DUP)	West Tyrone
9 November 2010		Tom Elliott MLA (UUP)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone	→		Reg Empey MLA (UUP)	Belfast East

See also

• Committee