One year on: Stormont executive action fails to meet public expectations

John Manley, Politics Correspondent, Irish News, February 3rd, 2025

12 months on from the restoration of the devolved institutions there’s little sign of the action that was promised

On January 21st, in preparation for a series of articles marking a year since Stormont’s restoration, The Irish News asked the Executive Office for some commentary and a list of some of the achievements of the past 12 months.

We’ve yet to hear back.

It’s insignificant in the scheme of things yet it speaks volumes about how the regional administration operates.

When the Stormont institutions were restored last year following the end of the DUP’s two-year boycott, newly-appointed First Minister Michelle O’Neill told the assembly it represented a “new dawn”.

Deputy First Minister Emma-Little Pengelly promised to “work tirelessly” to ensure the executive could deliver for all, helping fulfil the region’s “incredible potential”.

As the media converged on Parliament Buildings last February, those offering words of encouragement to the fledgling administration included the then taoiseach Leo Varadkar and US president Joe Biden.

Expectations were high.

During the period the institutions were down – their second prolonged suspension inside five years – we were reminded countless times why we needed our regional government back: to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, to save crumbling public services, and to revive a dying Lough Neagh.

Ahead of restoration, which was preceded by the customary political drama, the would-be executive parties met with senior civil servants around 100 times, apparently “laying the groundwork” to ensure they would waste little time getting down to business. Through a collective effort, more funding was secured from the Treasury though in the months following inevitable financial pressures emerged.

At the outset, the rhetoric from Stormont’s leaders around maintaining stability and a determination to work together was positive, while the photo-opportunities conveyed a welcome sense of unity and purpose.

And let’s not kid ourselves, mandatory coalition isn’t easy – it’s the political equivalent of herding cats.

But a mandate was sought from Sinn Féin, and given, on the promise of change, and from the DUP on a “plan to fix the health service”.

Any assessment of the administration’s performance in its first year back should be measured against these stated intentions.

That’s not to neglect the role or the responsibility of executive’s two junior partners – Alliance with two ministers and the UUP with the health portfolio – but nothing comes to the table or gets passed without the approval of the two biggest parties.

No-one expected transformation to happen overnight, whether it be in health and social care, economic restructuring (both in the model and regional rebalance), or in the private and social housing sector, but with three years left of the mandate there was an opportunity to demonstrate ambition.

Yet the pace of progress has been sluggish. There’s already slippage with the legislative programme. An unbuilt Casement Park is becoming a metaphor for the regional administration.

A £25m fund to help parents with childcare costs notwithstanding, it’s difficult to identify any single strategic action taken by Stormont in its first 12 months that has impacted positively on people’s lives in a long-term way.

Health workers have had their pay rise, the worst-off pensioners are due a winter fuel payment (in spring), and belatedly a much-needed strategy has been introduced to tackle violence against women and girls.

But where are the big ideas, the measures that will improve people’s standard of living and their prospects?

Meanwhile, the near-medieval scenes that greet staff and patients in emergency departments every winter have returned, Belfast traffic has become increasingly gridlocked, and the housing crisis has deepened, with a failure to invest in the wastewater system cited as the main reason. Lough Neagh won’t recover for decades; another metaphor for failure.

Consultations, announcements and signalling an intention to do something is not delivery. It’s just posturing.

Gestures of reconciliation are welcome but they don’t butter potatoes.

The phrase ‘reluctance to take difficult decisions’ comes to minds again and again. For all the talk, our leaders have yet to walk the walk.

At its worst, what’s going on resembles a complacency – or cowardice? – from Sinn Féin and the DUP caused by political advantage over respective smaller rivals that bears little relation to their record in government.

At its best it highlights a broken system that can’t accommodate anything remotely challenging.

Either way, the outcome is the same: inertia.

While we’ve been waiting for Stormont’s programme for government both the new administrations in London and Dublin have published theirs. We’re told ours is imminent but don’t expect anything that differs significantly from the broad strokes and aspirational statements of the draft.

It can only be described as an action plan if accompanied by action.

This time next year, the parties will begin thinking about the 2027 assembly election, so if political capital is to be spent, there can’t be any further delay.

Since Storm Éowyn, the first and deputy first ministers have been very visible and vocal in their response. They’ve shown decisiveness yet inadvertently, by their sudden conspicuousness, highlighted how little they’ve had to crow about in the past year.

Stormont must move beyond the begging bowl politics to tackle NI's problems

Belfast Telegraph, February 3rd, 2025

A year ago, Northern Ireland's silent Assembly at Stormont once more began echoing to the sound of MLAs “hitting the ground running”.

The stampede failed to last and, before long, the straying began across the plains.

All very predictable, but nonetheless disappointing.

The shiny new coating could not cover the spluttering of the engine for long.

They may not have been a match for 'the chuckle brothers' of the former Paisley/McGuinness tandem, but First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly have been willing to share the stage, and share it well.

But their performances in those roles can only go so far if the material delivered by the Executive which they lead is lacking in substance.

And that's been the biggest issue. It's all well and good saying what needs to happen, but when the money isn't there, things become problematic.

That's when the smiles fade away and the harsh realities of the begging bowl come into play.

There was no point in going to the Stormont cupboard — it was bare.

Any notions of making unpopular decisions, like bringing in water charges, hiking rates and raising tuition fees for students, were all quickly dismissed.

Instead, attention turned elsewhere for the cash injection to sustain a reformed Executive, and those eyes continue to scan the horizon for assistance which our own government should be providing themselves.

The idea of a Casement Park rebuild in time for Euro 2028 quickly fell away.

Any notion of a major investment to cut waiting times in the health service receded into a battle to simply keep things as they are.

The longer the year progressed, the more it seemed that there was no contingency plan for those emergencies that crop up, other than to send out appeals for financial aid.

However, there have been sporadic sprinkles of achievement.

Finally, a firm commitment to improvements on the A5 from Londonderry to Aughnacloy — with a little help from the bulging coffers south of the border (though that is once more bogged down in legalities), and measures to address the desperate need of our special education sector.

But even those are in danger of being lost in the cracks that are appearing everywhere else.

While they do say 'if you don't ask, you don't get', the 'please, sir, can we have some more?' approach to government is growing tiresome.

One thing that has been proven, though, is that honeymoon periods only last for a couple of weeks.

The daily grind of everyday married life is something that has to be worked at if it's to stay the course.

And occasionally, a new idea needs to be brought to the table in order to spice things up.

On the day of Stormont's return last year, a front-page editorial in this newspaper declared that what was required was a “government which starts by sorting out the main problems affecting society, from health to education to infrastructure”.

Footing the bill for what needs to be done has been a difficult obstacle to clear, and last week we were back begging, with NIE urged to step in to provide support for families left without power in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.

Even that would, likely, end up being self-defeating. We all pay for power, and in the end, we all know we will foot the bill for any compensation if it comes.

Those new ideas must be brought to the table. Hard decisions have to be made. Politics here needs to be no longer a popularity contest, but a commitment from all to sort out the ills afflicting every one of us.

If there's limited financial help from elsewhere, the only choice is to at least try to help ourselves.