The Northern Ireland Assembly elected in November 2003 never met as such: Northern Ireland's devolved government and representative institutions had been suspended with the re-introduction of direct rule by the United Kingdom government on 14 October 2002. However, the persons (Members of the Legislative Assembly, MLAs) elected to the Assembly at the 2003 assembly election were called together in a non-legislative capacity, initially under the Northern Ireland Act 2006 and then under the St Andrews Agreement. These bodies failed to form a government before the 2007 election.
The following is a list of the members of that second Assembly, including members co-opted after the election to replace those who had resigned or died, and changes in party affiliation.
Party strengths
{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="CCCCCC" style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray;"
! colspan="2" |Party
!Designation!!Nov 2003<br />election!!Jan 2007<br />end
|-
|style="color:; background:" | || Democratic Unionist Party
|align="center"|Unionist||align="center"| 30 ||align="center"| 32
|-
|style="color:; background:" | || Ulster Unionist Party
|align="center"|Unionist||align="center"| 27 ||align="center"| 24
|-
|style="color:; background:" | || Sinn Féin
|align="center"|Nationalist||align="center"| 24 ||align="center"|21
|-
|style="color:; background:" | || Social Democratic and Labour Party
|align="center"|Nationalist||align="center"| 18 ||align="center"| 18
|-
|style="color:; background:" | || Alliance Party
|align="center"|Other||align="center"| 6 ||align="center"| 5
|-
|bgcolor="" | || UK Unionist Party
|align="center"|Unionist||align="center"| 1 ||align="center"| 1
|-
|bgcolor="" | || Progressive Unionist Party
|align="center"|Unionist||align="center"| 1 ||align="center"| 1
|-
|bgcolor="" | || Independent
|align="center"|Nationalist||align="center"|0||align="center"|1
|-
|bgcolor="" |
|Independent
|align="center"|Other
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|1
|-
|bgcolor="" |
|Independent
|align="center"|Unionist
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|2
|-
| bgcolor="#000000" | || Speaker
|align="center"|None||align="center"| 0 ||align="center"|1
|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray;"
|
|Vacant
|align="center"|Nationalist
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|1
|-
| colspan="2" rowspan="4" |Totals by Designation
|Unionist||align="center"|60||align="center"|60
|-
|Nationalist||align="center"| 42 ||align="center"|41
|-
|Other||align="center"|6||align="center"|6
|- style="border-bottom: 2px solid gray;"
|None
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|1
|-
| colspan="3" |Total
|align="center" colspan="2" |108
|}
Notes
|-
|29 November 2004
|Belfast West
|
|Bairbre de Brún
|Sue Ramsey
|Resignation of Bairbre de Brún.
|-
|25 September 2006
|Belfast West
|
|Michael Ferguson
|Vacant
|Death of Michael Ferguson. The vacancy remained unfilled on the dissolution of the Assembly.
|-
|9 January 2007
|Lagan Valley
|
|Patricia Lewsley
|Marietta Farrell
|Resignation of Patricia Lewsley to take up the post of Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.
|-
|23 January 2007
|Belfast East
|
|David Ervine
|Dawn Purvis
|Death of David Ervine.
|}
‡ Changes in affiliation
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
!Date
!Constituency
!Name
! colspan="2" |Previous affiliation
! colspan="2" |New affiliation
!Circumstance
|-
|18 December 2003
|Lagan Valley
|Jeffrey Donaldson
|
|
|Jeffrey Donaldson resigned from the UUP.
|-
|18 December 2003
|Lagan Valley
|Norah Beare
|
|
|Norah Beare resigned from the UUP.
|-
|5 January 2004
|Lagan Valley
|Norah Beare
|
|
|Norah Beare joined the DUP.
|-
|23 November 2005
|Mid Ulster
|Francie Molloy
|
|
|Francie Molloy was suspended by Sinn Féin on 23 November 2005 following disagreements about reforms of local government. Molloy was subsequently readmitted to the party.
|-
|10 April 2006
|North Down
|Eileen Bell
|
|
|Eileen Bell was appointed Speaker of the Assembly on 10 April 2006 for the first session on 15 May.
|-
|15 January 2007
|Mid Ulster
|Geraldine Dougan
|
|
|Geraldine Dougan resigned from Sinn Féin.
|-
|2 February 2007
|Newry and Armagh
|Davy Hyland
|
|
|Davy Hyland resigned from Sinn Féin.
|}
See also
- Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998
- Members of the Northern Ireland Forum elected in 1996
- Northern Ireland MPs
- 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election