Debate contribution: Public-sector Pay Rise
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Public-sector Pay Rise
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795707
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will say this: my responsibility is to try to get the right Budget, which is what I am actively engaged in. We had numerous meetings last week, and we will have more this week. We understand that we need to get the Budget agreed. We cannot, however, agree to a Budget that does not cut it and does not allow us to deliver on public-sector pay, as you have rightly highlighted. I think that it is the will of every party and every independent in the House to ensure that we get to the juncture where we have a public-sector pay rise. On the one hand, the British Government continue to acknowledge that we have been underfunded — we have evidence to back up our case; whether it is the Holtham review or the Fiscal Council work, everybody backs up our argument about our funding envelope — and, on the other hand, we have a Treasury that then comes in and says, "We have only this amount. We can only give you that". That is not fixing the structural problem, which means that we are in a vicious circle of coming back to the same point. However, the priority now is to get the right Budget that will allow us to provide pay.
214 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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