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PB April-May 2025
April-May 2025 17
NEWS
T
he Northern Executive has
published its Programme for
Government, only a year after being
restored. For a year’s work, the
Programme is light on concrete
proposals though First Minister Michelle
O’Neill hailed it as a “significant milestone”.
The programme is the work of Sinn Féin and
the DUP, not noted pioneers of imaginative
policy. The input of the two other Executive
Parties, Alliance and Ulster Unionists, was to
rubberstamp their decisions.
The 100-page document, called ‘Our Plan:
Doing What Matters Most’, identifies three key
missions – people, planet and prosperity –
with an overriding commitment to peace.
Sinn Féin and the DUP have clearly, and let’s
face it reasonably, decided they are in the
Executive together for the long haul. Both have
too much political capital invested. Both are
financially dependent.
From time to time, there are of course
stresses. On one hand, DUP Education Minister
Paul Givan has been drawn in to unnecessary
controversy. In January he rejected plans from
Northern Ireland’s largest school to become
religiously integrated i.e. multidenominational
On the other, he has visited Gaelscoileanna,
and engaged constructively with unions to
resolve pay issues.
It is genuinely threatening, though, that the
Executive faces financial pressure. Without
revenue-raising powers, all revenue comes
from Westminster. So it cannot produce a
multi-year budget.
In the Programme, there are minor points of
significance. Global warming is accepted as a
given, a controversy in the North. While some
DUP traditionalists remain deniers, the
pragmatists have taken control.
The Programme admits all is not well in the
economy: “But not everyone here is feeling the
benefit of that (economic) growth and there is
still a long way to go”. It accepts that too many
jobs remain low-paid and low-skilled.
The Programme recognises problems
elsewhere also. The Department of Health
struggles with the UK’s longest hospital
waiting lists. The Programme estimates
£80million is needed to prevent these growing.
Reversing them would take £135million.
Money is available, however, a significant part
will go to the private sector.
Housing is recognised as another diculty.
There are 47,000 households on the waiting
list for social housing. The target is to build at
least 5,850 social homes over the next two
years. That is much more modest than Sinn
Féin’s target in the South in its manifesto for
last year’s General Election. There the target
was 60,000:, given the population ratio, that
would mean about 23,000 per year in the
North. .
The criminal justice system is another
struggle. The past five years have seen a
significant decline in paramilitary activity but
a 20% increase in prisoner numbers generally.
The criminal justice system has also been
becoming slower. In 10 years the time to
progress a case through the system has
increased from 143 to 191 days.
The Programme recognises violence against
women and girls as endemic. Twenty percent
of all crimes reported are domestic. This is
certainly an understatement. The nature of the
crime makes victims reluctant to report. In
Catholic working-class areas reluctance is
greater, given historic attitudes to police. The
commitment is good, whether suciently
financed is uncertain.
An immediate environmental crisis facing
the Executive is Lough Neagh. This is suering
a mixture of pollution from farms and
industries, and sand dredging on the bed.
There is a real danger the Lough could die.
While the Executive recognises the dangers,
the Programme is predictably light on solution.
Despite the worsening climate crisis, the
Programme shows little sign of ending the
North’s car-dependency. With the Isle of Man,
it is the only jurisdiction in Britain or Ireland to
have built no new rail links. The Programme
writes the Executive is “considering”
reopening the Portadown to Derry line.
Commitment is clearer on the proposed A5
dual carriageway from the Tyrone-Monaghan
Border to Newbuildings, County Derry. The
Programme says “Actions will include
delivery...” on this. Former Environment
Minister John O’Dowd has announced the dual
carriageway is going ahead. Reflecting the
Freestate roads phenomenon faithfully, the
decision is now facing a legal challenge. The
outcome is not yet known.
Buried in the document are potential
landmines regarding health. The relevant
section says “... the journey of reform must
continue... taking the dicult decisions about
reconfiguration...”.
That particularly relates to controversies
regarding the future of three of the North’s
acute hospitals. These are the South West
Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, the Causeway in
Coleraine, and Daisy Hill in Newry. In all three
areas there are campaigns in defence of
services.
It’s slow but it’s progress.
SigNIficant progress
Northern Irelnd’s
Execuive produces
n unimpressive bu
no dysfuncionl
progrmme for
governmen, finlly
By Anon McCbe
