Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure

Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Department overview
Formed	December 1999
Preceding Department	Department of Education
Jurisdiction	Northern Ireland
Headquarters	Causeway Exchange, Bedford Street, Belfast, BT2 7EG
Employees	269 (September 2011)
Annual budget	£112.1 million (current) & £16.3 million (capital) for 2011-12
Minister responsible	Carál Ní Chuilín
Website
www.dcalni.gov.uk

Northern Ireland

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The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) (Irish: An Roinn Cultúir, Ealaíon agus Fóillíochta, Ulster Scots: Männystrie o Fowkgates, Airts an Aisedom) is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Aim

DCAL’s overall vision is a “confident, creative, informed and healthy society”. It describes its mission as delivering economic growth and enhancing the quality of life in Northern Ireland by "unlocking the full potential of the culture, arts and leisure sectors."

The incumbent Minister is Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin). The Minister is, by virtue of office, the Keeper of the Records for Northern Ireland.

Responsibilities

The department has the following main responsibilities:

• the arts
• cultural diversity
• inland waterways
• languages
• libraries
• lottery funding distribution
• museums
• the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI);
• sport

Some cultural matters are reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved:

• intellectual property
• broadcasting
• the National Lottery

DCAL’s main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government are:

• the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS);
• the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (on inland fisheries);
• the National Archives (on public records).

Its main counterparts in the Irish Government are:

• the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport;
• the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (on public libraries);
• the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs (on the Irish language);
• the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (on inland fisheries).

History

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. DCAL is one of 11 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 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.

Since 8 May 2007, devolution has operated without interruption.

Ministers of Culture, Arts and Leisure

	Minister	Party	Took office	Left office
	Michael McGimpsey	Ulster Unionist	2 December 1999	11 February 2000
Office suspended
	Michael McGimpsey	Ulster Unionist	30 May 2000	14 October 2002
Office suspended
	Edwin Poots	Democratic Unionist	8 May 2007	9 June 2008
	Gregory Campbell	Democratic Unionist	9 June 2008	1 July 2009
	Nelson McCausland	Democratic Unionist	1 July 2009	5 May 2011
	Carál Ní Chuilín	Sinn Féin	16 May 2011

Direct rule ministers

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

• George Howarth (2000)
• Angela Smith (2002–05)
• David Hanson (2005–06)
• Maria Eagle (2006–07)

See also

• Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure

External links

• DCAL
• The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999PDF (37.0 KB)