 She served as the Junior Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.On 1 September 2015, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) minister Danny Kennedy resigned from the Department for Regional Development after his party's decision to withdraw from the Northern Ireland Executive (due to allegations of the Provisional IRA's continued existence by Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable George Hamilton).Under Northern Ireland Assembly rules, when a Department Minister resigns, their party has seven working days to replace the minister or the position is given to another party under the D'Hondt method.