Motion or amendment: Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division - Amendment 1

Motion or amendment by Mr Paul Frew on 19 March 2025.

MLA: Mr Paul Frew
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 19 March 2025
Type: Motion or amendment
Business: Motion Amendment · Private Members' Motion · to “Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division”
Heading: Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division - Amendment 1
Assembly identifier: Document 433098

Read the official Assembly record Open Data source

Text

Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division - Amendment 1
Leave out all after ‘That this Assembly' and insert:
‘notes concern at the cost of division in Northern Ireland, including the perceived duplication of public services, additional policing and justice costs and foregone economic opportunities; further notes that the cost of division is one of a range of factors which contribute to the overall additional cost of public service delivery in Northern Ireland compared to other regions of the UK, which was estimated to be up to £833 million per year by Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre in 2016; believes that all examples of unaffordable waste of the Executive’s scarce budget would be better invested in tackling waiting lists, building social homes, improving education provision, increasing police officer numbers and delivering other priorities shared by local communities; further believes that there should be an updated and ongoing assessment of government waste, inefficiency and our higher cost of public service delivery, including the cost of division; calls on the Minister of Finance to place the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council on a statutory footing to this end; and further calls on the Executive to develop a cross-departmental plan to tackle both the root causes, and financial and societal impacts of, division in Northern Ireland.’

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