Debate contribution: Budget 2024-25

Debate contribution by Mrs Deborah Erskine on 28 May 2024.

MLA

Mrs Deborah Erskine

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

28 May 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Budget 2024-25

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4492270

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Sorry, I have a lot to get through. Turning to Translink and its funding requirements, the Committee recognises the vital role that our public transport services play in helping users go about their daily life, with some 80 million passenger journeys each year. The Committee is looking forward to tomorrow's combined external meeting and site visit to the new Grand Central station transport hub, which represents a large investment and is expected to be able to accommodate more than 20 million passenger journeys each year. Such investment is absolutely necessary to ensure that Translink can modernise its 14,000-strong bus fleet and play its part in reducing emissions from harmful greenhouse gases, if we are to achieve the commitments under the Climate Change Act. That investment will allow Translink to meet the demand for services, but it should be across Northern Ireland and take account of need to ensure the provision of accessible and timely services. In addition, we need to offer a reliable and viable incentive for road users to switch to public transport for accessibility to greener forms of transport, which could also help grow our economy. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, I want to mention the recurring issue of the state of our road network, to which, I am sure, every Member can attest. The deterioration of our roads is a consequence of having an insufficient budget to maintain them at a normal level. The Committee recognises that the Department requires some £60 million per annum to maintain the road network. Over recent years, it has not received sufficient funding, and, as a result, only the highest-priority repairs can be undertaken, and temporary fixes have become more common. Constrained funding has also led to a reduced winter service, leading to some roads not being gritted, particularly during cold weather. These factors all contribute to road safety on our network and are of particular concern to the Committee and all Members of the House. We have all heard about the tragic and unnecessary loss of life on our roads that has left too many families, friends and communities devastated at the loss of a loved one. Over the coming weeks, the Committee will be considering the road safety strategy and how it aims to deliver improved outcomes. It will seek to ensure that necessary resources are allocated to deliver those outcomes. Having reviewed the capital and resource allocation of the draft Budget, I note that the Department, subject to Budget approval today, will receive £820·1 million capital and £559·5 million resource, which falls significantly short of the bid that was submitted. It is extremely disappointing that the Department advised that officials would not be in a position to give evidence to the Committee on how it intends to prioritise and allocate its funding until tomorrow. While a paper, which sets out indicative high-level resource and capital allocations, has now been received, it would have been beneficial had members had the opportunity to discuss those allocations with officials before today's debate and vote. The Committee has written to the Minister to express its disappointment and to seek assurance that engagement for future Budget cycles will be timely, so as not to diminish our advisory and scrutiny roles. I will now speak very briefly in my capacity as an MLA. We have heard a lot today about parties not voting on the Budget. That is mainly down to Health and its not receiving the full Budget allocation that it bid for. Every Department is in a similar situation.

I remind the Health Minister that, if we do not fund roads and do not fund our water system, that will mean problems in our health service: more people in hospital due to poor drinking water and more traffic incidents, which cause problems —

— in our already stretched and pressured emergency departments (EDs). This is not about just one Department; it is cross-departmental.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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