Debate contribution: Programme for Government

Debate contribution by Mr Mark Durkan on 7 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Mark Durkan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

7 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Programme for Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4579675

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. After seven months, the publication of the Executive's draft Programme for Government was welcome. However, it quickly became apparent and is becoming more apparent by the day that the document, which should provide a road map for a better, fairer Northern Ireland, lacks any detail whatsoever on how to get us there. The plan is remarkable only in its vagueness, not its ideas. It lacks the ambitious and measurable targets that this place so desperately needs. In the face of deepening crises across healthcare, housing and poverty, the draft Programme for Government is a hollow promise, and missed opportunities echo through its empty shell. The term "budget pressures" has become the tag line of this Executive. It is rolled out when we seek urgent updates on critical services: "We would like to do it, but, you know, budget pressures". It is akin to that dreaded phrase that no child wants to hear from a parent when asking for something — "We'll see"— and my children hear it frequently enough. Even as children, we understood that that phrase meant no. It was a way to dodge responsibility but not be the person to say no. We think that the amendment does a bit of that, so we will not support it. That is not to say that financial precarity is not an issue. Budget pressures are a huge, harsh reality. We do not downplay the challenges ahead. However, budget pressures cannot be used as a constant excuse for the Executive's lack of creativity. Real leadership demands innovative solutions, not simply pointing to financial constraints as a barrier to progress. Much of what is included is not new or has already been committed to. For example, the £76 million of new money to tackle health waiting lists is, in fact, old money that had been allocated to address red-flag cases, and it will not make a dent in our growing waiting lists. The environment improvement plan is required by law under the climate action plan, and it should have been actioned already, yet that, too, has been presented here as some sort of novel concept and radical aim. Mr McMurray outlined the cost of damage to our environment and pointed out environmental exemplars that we could and should aspire to emulate. However, we have here a practice in acknowledgement, not action. We have acknowledgement of our ever-growing housing waiting list, increased poverty rates and the need to protect the planet, but we do not have a tangible plan or indication of time frames for any of the priorities that are outlined. While the SDLP and I welcomed housing as a priority in the programme, the PFG merely notes that it will prevent homelessness by:

"making it brief, rare and non-recurrent".

It fails to mention or address the fact that the Executive have not seen fit to fund homelessness prevention in the past financial year. Services are on their knees and facing closure. Service users are on their knees and facing into an abyss. The Programme for Government promises to deliver affordable homes and to bring forward the housing supply strategy for 100,000 homes over a 15-year period, but that promise is made at a time when fewer than 600 new social homes will be built this year, falling woefully short of targets. Addressing Northern Ireland Water issues and their impact on housing development barely get a mention. The Executive commit to tackling poverty, with zero mention of delivering an anti-poverty strategy, which has been 20 years in the making. There is a commitment to private rented sector reform when we have already witnessed a rowback on previous commitments, including on no-fault evictions, as I raised with the Communities Minister earlier. Managing our water, which is one of the most pressing and historically neglected issues, gets a 38-word mention. That mention encompasses water supply, maintaining infrastructure, addressing pollution and biodiversity loss and preventing flooding, yet there is absolutely no detail on how the Executive intend to address it. I could go on, but I believe that I have painted a clear enough picture. You get the idea. The PFG lacks the bold ambitions and actions that we need to achieve meaningful progress for the people whom we all serve. We need to see specifics. People need to see specifics, including a statutory obligation for collaboration across Departments and the effective utilisation of North/South opportunities. The leader of the Opposition has outlined the fact that we are not being negative. You would be forgiven for thinking that I did not get that memo before the debate started, but it is true. It is, of course, worth noting that this is a draft Programme for Government that is now out for consultation, but it is so important that that consultation be widespread, thorough and meaningful and that more than lip service is paid to responses. The SDLP acknowledges and appreciates the positive things in the PFG and, indeed, the positivity of actually having a Programme for Government. We have been without one for more than a decade, but, of course, we have been without a Government for half a decade. None of what is in the document will be achieved if we go down that road again. Mr O'Toole focused on — or he was beginning to hone his focus on the importance of targets and timelines. He was in full flow before the Chair of the Executive Office Committee interrupted him — not her only well-timed intervention in the past week — but, in doing so, she highlighted my party's consistency in approach. We will always seek to do better, whether we are inside or outside an Executive. Ms Sheerin spoke of water quality and the action plan for Lough Neagh. She welcomed the cross-departmental approach, but the scope of our ambition should not be limited to dealing with just one environmental crisis at a time. People want to see a similar commitment to tackle the issues at Mobuoy, which pose a threat not only to the environment but to human health and are a barrier to the completion of the A6 and the economic development of Derry. Ms Bradshaw made important points about tackling division — division that has cost lives, cost money and continues to cost so many opportunities for us to do better. Ms McLaughlin made the salient point about tackling the flying of flags, which is a practical aim and outworking of tackling that division. I have said that people need more than words, but words are important. My colleague correctly identified the wording around the expansion of the university in Derry. The document refers to "up to 10,000 students". We need "at least" 10,000 students. The deputy First Minister spoke of the infrastructural challenges that we face. We all know of the huge challenges and the cost of delivering major infrastructural improvements and projects. The biggest driver of cost is delay. We clearly need to improve our delivery. An infrastructure commission could have and, undoubtedly, would have a role to play in improving that and reducing the eye-watering overspends that we now seem to shrug off and take as par for the course. However, that infrastructure commission has been sucked into TEO where so many good ideas go to die. The motion is not about pointing fingers; it is about extending an open hand. We want to work constructively to craft a plan that delivers results. What we currently have does not cut it. This cannot serve as another soulless exercise in political rhetoric and jam tomorrow. I commend the motion.

1,267 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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