Public expect programme to deal with challenges in Northern Ireland – SDLP

The public in Northern Ireland want to know when the Stormont powersharing Executive will publish a plan for dealing with deteriorating public services and financial challenges facing the region, the Assembly has heard.

SDLP Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole said 100 days following the resumption of devolved government, it was now time for delivery.

Deputy First Minster Emma Little-Pengelly said the Executive wanted to be known for delivery, not for “photo ops”.

The powersharing Executive was reformed at the end of January following two years of political instability.

On the third Opposition day at Stormont, the SDLP has proposed a summer recess deadline for the publication of the Executive’s programme for government.

Opening the debate in the Assembly, Mr O’Toole said his party wanted to be constructive.

He said: “We recognised that after years of collapse, austerity and deteriorating public services, that not everything could or would be fixed overnight, or indeed fixed in the course of this mandate.

“The incoming Executive was faced with challenges that aren’t easily resolved, but are in fact deeply embedded and, in some cases, structural.”

The Opposition leader added: “The public of Northern Ireland aren’t unreasonable and they aren’t daft.

“They know these challenges will take time and effort to resolved.

“But they do expect a plan. And if the plan itself isn’t yet ready, which it doesn’t appear to be, the bare minimum they deserve to be told when the plan will be published.

“One hundred days from the restoration of the institutions, we have now had 28 motions from Executive parties promising action on everything from waiting lists to childcare support to the MOT backlog.

“In many cases these motions are presented as if they substantively change the law or allocated funding. They don’t.

“A casual observer watching the First Minister (Michelle O’Neill) publicise motions calling for improved childcare or support for holiday hunger might naturally assume that since the person speaking is the joint head of government here, that these motions come alongside a meaningful plan involving legislation or allocation of funding. But they don’t.”

Mr O’Toole said the focus of his party’s motions would be on delivery.

He said: “We would like to see a programme for government delivered soon.

“Is that so unreasonable? We haven’t had one in nearly a decade.”

Alliance Party MLA Paula Bradshaw said there had been two years of “wasted time” while Stormont was suspended.

She said: “Never again can we see one party collapsing everything and paralysing our entire system, leaving our population without a functional and locally-elected government.

“But now we are 100 days in and we must see delivery.

“There was significant goodwill given towards Sinn Fein and the DUP when devolution was restored, but many of the issues requiring action have mounted up on their desk, with little evidence of real action.

“The photo opportunities have gone well but actual delivery has been scant.

“There is a lot of work to catch up on. Two years of paralysis has made the need for transformation and delivery all the more pressing.

“It’s time people got what they voted for.”

Ms Little-Pengelly listed the achievements of the Executive in its first 100 days, including agreeing a budget, setting a financial package of £688 million for public sector pay, promoting Northern Ireland during a St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington and attending meetings of the East West and North South Ministerial councils.

She said: “There have been many things we have secured. While we have been doing that, we have also been working on our programme for government.

“Of course it is an important and essential step in what we need to do.

“Yes, we have taken action. This has been an Executive of delivery. And yes, perhaps we do need to explain it more, we need to say it louder.”

Ms Little-Pengelly added: “We are working on it week in and week out and our intention is to get a draft out as soon as possible and certainly before the summer.

“I want this Executive to be known for delivery. It is not about photographs or photo ops.”

The SDLP will also propose through separate motions a timeline for the establishment of an Independent Environmental Protection Agency and support for the tourism and hospitality sector.