Debate contribution: Building Political Consensus

Debate contribution by Ms Diane Forsythe on 13 October 2026.

MLA: Ms Diane Forsythe
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 13 October 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: Building Political Consensus
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5789739

Text

It was pretty impossible to keep a straight face during the leader of the Opposition's opening remarks, when he talked once again about "constructive Opposition" and the lack of "toxicity". Maybe he should rewind half an hour to the outburst from his colleague Daniel McCrossan. Toxicity spewed out of him in all directions, and his feelings, especially towards unionists, were made clear. The leader of the Opposition comes here to try to patronise others. He talks about removing toxicity, but he should look towards his own Benches. The SDLP's mask has slipped and not for the first time in recent weeks. I will not be shy in calling that out. I know that the leader of the Opposition can see and hear for himself what comes from those who sit around him. It was also patronising of him to revise his narrative of a new Ireland: that is dead in the water. Look at the couple of weeks that we have had. We had SDLP members standing arm in arm with dissident republicans, showing us all exactly what they stand for. That will not cut it, unless you want to completely isolate and exclude every unionist across the country. It is completely disingenuous to open the debate by trying to act like the grown-ups in the room. We are talking about building political consensus: I am sure that everyone would like to be able to sign up to that. However, there has to be honesty. There was some political consensus in the Chamber that all Members here respected the courts, but that evaporated when Sinn Féin, led by Michelle O'Neill, blocked the Garvaghy Road. Members must begin by believing that we are all equal under the law and equally subject to it. If we cannot find consensus on that, it is difficult to see how consensus could be found on huge issues like health transformation. After all, the previous Health Minister, who is here and whom I respect a lot from his time in the role, found out that it is difficult to find that political consensus even within parties. Everyone here accepts that there is not enough money, and I will not rehearse a lot of the debates that we have had around that recently. Northern Ireland is being asked to deliver first-class public services with second-class funding. Reforming our public services is necessary, but it requires investment and cannot become a cover for managed decline. Northern Ireland needs a sustainable Budget that protects our public services, not a multi-year settlement that simply locks in inadequate funding and deeper cuts and acts like a sticking plaster year after year. We need to be able to plan. We need forward thinking. We need to be able to establish that knowing what is coming for a number of years ahead. The gap between what our hospitals, schools and front-line services need and what Treasury is providing is growing year after year. It is no longer sustainable to make the books balance without any additional funding. Resource has been offered, but it falls well short of easing the pressures in even one Department let alone across the entire Northern Ireland Executive. Anyone who says that we just need to get on and agree can explain the cuts that will come as a consequence. Short-term funding fixes are not enough. The Education Minister alone faces a shortfall that runs into hundreds of millions of pounds, which would require more than 6,000 teacher redundancies. Gordon Lyons sought a better deal for Northern Ireland from the Chancellor, especially with regard to borrowing powers to build houses, and we will continue to champion that. The DUP has pressed the Secretary of State to build on the discussions that have already been held and to help to deliver long-term financial stability. Essential funding must not be made conditional on weakening the safeguards at the heart of power-sharing and political consent. Make no mistake: we want to get to the position where we can agree a multi-year Budget that works for everyone. However, John O'Dowd's proposed Budget, which was set out earlier this year, is not sufficiently linked to Programme for Government priorities. Can the Opposition see how that would be harmful? If the Executive have agreed a Programme for Government, it should follow that the Budget reflects the priorities set out in it. However, that Budget does not prioritise social housing. That is why that Budget is a problem: it does not ensure that money would go towards one of our headline targets. There is insufficient capital allocation to enable our Communities Minister to meet the PFG housing targets. Do the Opposition acknowledge that, even though they are recognised as Executive priorities, there is a lack of dedicated funding for the anti-poverty strategy and the disability and work strategy? Is that a Budget that they want the Communities Minister to support? The provision for special educational needs is wholly inadequate despite that being a key Programme for Government priority. Under the draft Budget, the Education Minister would need to make savings of approximately £826 million in 2026-27 —.

851 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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