Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland)

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI, Irish: An Roinn Bonneagair;^[5] Ulster-Scots: Depairment fur Infrastructure) is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive.

Department for Infrastructure

Department overview
Formed	May 2016
Preceding Department	Department of the Environment Department for Regional Development
Jurisdiction	Northern Ireland
Headquarters	James House, 2-4 Cromac Avenue, Belfast, BT7 2JA
Employees	2,279 (March 2019)[1]
Annual budget	£291.4 million (current) & £268.2 million (capital) for 2018–19[2]
Minister responsible	Liz Kimmins[3]
Department executive	Denis McMahon[4], Permanent Secretary
Website	www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

Up until May 2016, the department was called the Department for Regional Development.

Aim

DfI's overall aim is to "improve quality of life by securing transport and water infrastructure and shaping the region's long-term strategic development".^[6]

Responsibilities

The department's main responsibilities include ^[7]

• regional strategic planning and development;
• transport strategy and sustainable transport;
• public roads;
• public transport;
• air and sea ports;
• water and sewerage services.

Two transport matters are reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved: ^[8]

• navigation (including merchant shipping)
• civil aviation

DfI's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:

• the Department for Transport;^[9]
• the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (on water);^[10]
• the Department for Communities and Local Government (on planning).^[11]

In the Irish Government, its main counterparts are:

• the Department of Transport;^[12]
• the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (on water and planning).^[13]

Agencies

• DfI Roads: Responsible for ensuring that measures are taken to implement the roads aspects of the Regional Transportation Strategy for Northern Ireland 2002–12 and that the public road network is managed, maintained and developed. Roads Service is responsible for just over 25,000 kilometres of public roads, approximately 9,000 kilometres of footways, 5,800 bridges, 257,700 streetlights and 370 public car parks.
• Driver and Vehicle Agency: Responsible for vehicle MOT testing, driver testing and driver licensing.
• DfI Rivers

History

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 was subsequently 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 a phrase 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 Department for Infrastructure.

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. DRD was one of five new devolved Northern Ireland departments created 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 six periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:

• between 12 February 2000^[14] and 30 May 2000;^[15]
• on 11 August 2001;^[16][17]
• on 22 September 2001;^[18][19]
• between 15 October 2002^[20] and 8 May 2007.^[21]
• between 26 January 2017 and 11 January 2020
• between 27 October 2022 and 3 February 2024

Ministers for Infrastructure

	Minister	Image	Party	Took office	Left office
	Peter Robinson		DUP	29 November 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	Peter Robinson		DUP	30 May 2000	26 July 2000
	Gregory Campbell		DUP	27 July 2000	18 October 2001[22]
	Peter Robinson		DUP	25 October 2001	11 October 2002
Office suspended
	Conor Murphy		Sinn Féin	14 May 2007	4 May 2011
	Danny Kennedy		UUP	16 May 2011	2 September 2015
	Michelle McIlveen		DUP	21 September 2015	30 March 2016[note 1]
Office renamed Minister for Infrastructure
	Chris Hazzard		Sinn Féin	25 May 2016	26 January 2017
Office suspended
	Nichola Mallon		SDLP	11 January 2020	5 May 2022
	John O'Dowd		Sinn Féin	16 May 2022	27 October 2022
Office suspended
	John O'Dowd		Sinn Féin	3 February 2024	3 February 2025
	Liz Kimmins		Sinn Féin	3 February 2025	Incumbent

Direct rule ministers

During the periods of suspension, the following ministers of the Northern Ireland Office were responsible for the department:

• Adam Ingram (2000)
• Angela Smith (2002–03)
• John Spellar (2003–05)
• Shaun Woodward (2005–06)
• David Cairns (2006–07)

See also

• Committee for Infrastructure