By
First Minister Michelle O'Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. File photo by Jonathan Porter, Press Eye
ON Monday, flesh was put on the bones of the draft Programme for Government, which sets out priorities for the Northern Ireland Executive for the remaining two-and-a-half years of the Assembly term.
The draft programme has nine “immediate priorities” including creating a globally competitive and sustainable economy; affordable childcare; healthcare waiting times; support for special educational needs; ending violence against women and girls; social and affordable housing; safer communities; Lough Neagh and environment, and public service reform.
The draft went before the assembly more than seven months after the restoration of Stormont. Northern Ireland has not had a Programme for Government since 2015 and the failure to agree one since February has been one of the recurrent criticisms of the assembly so far.
There’s no doubt that getting to this point is therefore an important milestone for the Executive. But the nine priorities are quite broad.
By way of contrast, Scottish First Minister John Swinney announced his first Programme for Government on September 4, listing only four priorities: eradicating child poverty; building prosperity; improving public services and protecting the planet.
Our draft programme is also lacking in detail, despite the document, entitled 'Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most', running to 88 pages.
With regard to healthcare waiting times the proposed actions include: “investing in our workforce, delivering digital capability and innovation, taking the difficult decisions about reconfiguration, and supporting a move to addressing health inequalities and improving health through primary, community and social care”.
This reads more like a party manifesto than a programme for government, with no indication of how these actions will be measured or any idea of timeline for execution.
The Executive agreeing a programme for government as well as a budget is one of the requirements of the Good Friday Agreement, but in a perverse reversal, the 2024-2025 budget has already been agreed.
The Executive has put the cart before the horse because ministers already know how much money they have to play with.
Rosalind Skillen
The pressure on public finances and budgetary constraints is frequently cited as the reason why “difficult decisions” need to be made. This makes the draft programme a stale and uninspiring read - a document that defines the problems but lacks the imagination to solve them.
Northern Ireland continues to adopt a trust fund approach to governance, looking to Westminster and the Irish Government for funding rather than adopting its own fiscal powers. The draft programme makes no sign that the Executive is prepared to flex its economic and political muscle.
There is no doubt that getting the four parties to agree on these strategic priorities will not have been easy. But as the UK and Republic enter an era of more pragmatic cooperation, reinforced by the warm and constructive relationship between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Simon Harris, politicians in Northern Ireland must adopt this same spirit of compromise and commitment.
Northern Ireland is still a work in progress but our politics must be seen to work over a period of time.
The new programme should be a measure of that, except it lacks the objectives and detail by which we can track any progress.
The people of Northern Ireland wait with bated breath.
Rosalind Skillen is an environmental activist and writer @rosalindskillen