Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Information & Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Links at HealthHaven.com

The Executive Committee or the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland was the government of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Generally known as either the cabinet or the Government, the Executive Committee existed from 1922 to 1972. It exercised executive authority vested in the monarch of the United Kingdom, insofar as it had been delegated to them to control Northern Ireland's devolved matters.

Under the Act the Executive Committee consisted of the ministers appointed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to head departments of state.^[1] Ministers so chosen did not have to be members of the Parliament of Northern Ireland but were required to become members within six months.^[2]

A subsequent amendment to the Act, which came into force in 1922, replaced the Lord Lieutenant with a new crown representative, the Governor of Northern Ireland.

As with most Westminster style systems, the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 never provided for such an office, but in practice the Executive Committee was headed by a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. In theory the Executive Committee was not answerable to the House of Commons but held their positions "during the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant".^[3] In practice the Executive Committee was answerable to the elected House of Commons of Northern Ireland.

Thus the Executive Committee stood in a similar relationship to the legislature and Crown (within devolved Northern Ireland) as the UK's Cabinet does to the Crown and Westminster Parliament (in respect of the UK as a whole). The Northern Ireland Cabinet thus played a fairly equivalent constitutional role to the UK Cabinet. Similar systems are in place in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The system of government created by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 was first prorogued in 1972 and then abolished by the Government of the United Kingdom under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 in 1973.

The Executive Committee was based in the Stormont Parliament Buildings and the nearby Stormont Castle, whilst the Governor resided at Hillsborough Castle. Original plans to build a separate executive building were abandoned in the 1920s as a result of the economic difficulties that resulted from the Wall Street Crash.