We need more than talk – Stormont has to deliver
This week: All eyes are on the parties to deliver results
SINCE the Stormont Executive returned, we have seen a lot of words, but precious little practical action. Executive parties – those who collectively hold ministerial office – have passed nearly 20 Motions promising action on everything from the cost of childcare to health waiting lists to MOT backlogs to the crisis at Lough Neagh.
All of these are hugely important priorities.
The problem is these Motions have no legal or financial consequence in themselves; they don’t create any legal rights, or commit a penny of funding, but Executive parties (up to and including the First Minister herself) have made much of these debates with glossy PR and videos designed to communicate to the people of the North that they are doing something on these issues.
But they aren’t doing anything substantive – at least, not yet.
More than two months after devolved Government was revived, the only piece of substantive legislation we have seen passed is a Budget Bill that simply authorised spending already allocated by a Tory Secretary of State.
Oh – and a law aimed at delaying the introduction of free hospital car parking, which was first agreed in a previous Sinn Féin Private Members’ law.
Meaning the only laws passed by the Assembly so far are ones either rolling over a Tory Budget, or delaying another law introduced by Sinn Féin in 2022.
Non-binding Motions have their place, but they will do nothing to deliver change for families across the North still struggling with the cost of living, parents dealing with the overwhelming cost of childcare, or those forced to seek private healthcare or face years of waiting while their condition worsens.
Fermanagh in particular has suffered from chronic regional imbalance in terms of both economic development and provision of public services.
Despite having had a First Minister from the constituency, the needs of people in this area have been routinely overlooked.
Whether it’s securing a sustainable future for the South West Acute Hospital, support for businesses from Invest NI, modern transport links including the delivery of the Enniskillen Bypass, or improved broadband connectivity, people in Fermanagh are right to be frustrated with the lack of delivery.
It was the SDLP Opposition, not the
Executive, that highlighted
Fermanagh being the only county on the island of Ireland left out of the All-island Strategic Rail Review, and pushing for this to be reversed.
There is also an urgent need to improve cross-border economic partnership after more than a decade and a half of DUP Economy Ministers who have failed to prioritise the opportunities of greater cross-border cooperation.
This is obviously critical for Fermanagh, and indeed Cavan, Leitrim and Monaghan.
Our post-brexit dual-market access, the globally unique ability to move goods seamlessly from Northern Ireland into both the EU market and the UK, offers a huge opportunity to Fermanagh – a region which has not only established industrial firms such as Mannok, Encirc and Tracey, but a proven track record in starting and growing export firms.
The SDLP has championed this dualmarket access louder and for longer than most, and the jobs it could create.
But the Executive needs to back this up with practical policies and incentives, not just photo opportunities.
Fermanagh and neighbouring counties on both sides of the Border also need practical action to mitigate the real economic damage that could come from the introduction of the UK Government’s post-brexit Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme, which would – for example – require a French daytripper to Belleek from Ballyshannon to apply for a visa in advance, or for an American in a pleasure boat to get pre-clearance to sail the length of the Shannon-erne waterway.
Ultimately, what people want to see is delivery from those elected to take decisions.
And there are two main routes to delivery for any government: spending money and passing laws.
Nearly three months on, Stormont has set no new Budget of its own, and passed no substantive law, or even given a clear sense of the laws that it intends to pass to improve lives in Fermanagh or elsewhere.
It is one thing not to have detailed legislation ready at short notice, which takes time to draft and consult upon, it is quite another not to get a clear sense of Executive priorities via a Programme for Government.
Alongside a Budget (and ideally, a Budget for more than one year), a Programme for Government is supposed to be the road map for the devolved Government, something that binds together parties with different constitutional and ideological worldviews, and allows the public to know what the Government intends to do for them – and ultimately judge them on how well they delivered at the next election.
Not only do we not have one, we don’t have a clear sense of when we are going to get such a Programme.
In the Assembly, Michelle O’neill told my SDLP colleague, Colin Mcgrath, that the Executive hoped to have “something in place by the summer” – which would then need to be formally consulted upon – but, she added, “let’s not be in a hurry”.
While I’m all for politicians having a sense of proportion, such chilled vibes on delivery from the First Minister are in stark contrast to the urgent crises across our public services, and also her own legitimate urgency to get into office in the first place after the DUP boycott.
It is also worth bearing in mind that even during the collapse, the Executive parties met regularly to discuss what a Programme for Government would include.
What exactly were they talking about? The other key strategic planning tool for an Executive is of course the Budget, where the Finance Minister has already missed the legal deadline to publish a draft Budget before the end of a financial year, and her Department has played down any sense that the Budget will be anything other than a one-year plan with limited strategic prioritisation.
Again, some allowance can be made for the upheaval of Restoration, but that cannot be a permanent excuse.
It is of course reasonable that the new Executive be given a period of time to bed in, establish relationships and strike a positive tone of working together in what is still a system of mandatory powersharing that requires unique diplomatic skills to manage.
They deserve to be commended for the positive tone, and for the mature response to the shocking news of the past fortnight.
The SDLP Opposition has been consistent in commending the warm tone.
We have also been consistent in saying tone and imagery cannot be a permanent substitute for delivery.
That is why the SDLP Opposition has been relentless in securing commitments from Ministers to bring forward spending plans to rescue public services, pay deals for workers, and prioritising the pervasive impact of poverty during the second official opposition day.
The Executive have made a strong start at redressing negative vibes, but good vibes alone are not enough.
People in Fermanagh and across the North deserve delivery, and at a bare minimum they deserve to see a plan.
They haven’t got one yet.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’toole, Leader of the Opposition in the NI Assembly.