Debate contribution: Supply Resolution for the Northern Ireland Spring Supplementary Estimates 2024-25

Debate contribution by Mr Stephen Dunne on 17 February 2025.

MLA

Mr Stephen Dunne

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Supply Resolution for the Northern Ireland Spring Supplementary Estimates 2024-25

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4803036

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the opportunity to speak as a DUP member of the Infrastructure Committee on the important issue of the spring Supplementary Estimates. There is no doubt that infrastructure is a vital economic driver and social enabler across our country. It is the foundation that underpins the economic and social fabric of our communities and the key to unlocking a more prosperous, more productive and healthier society. We in the DUP are firmly committed to building world-class infrastructure that ensures that this is an attractive place in which to do business, maximising the opportunities that flow from our place in the Union and ending regional disparities. I welcome the Minister to his new post. It is ironic that our new Finance Minister is poacher turned gamekeeper. I would like to think that he recognises the scale of the challenges and pressures in the Infrastructure Department. Over the past year, the Committee has listened to and engaged extensively with officials from the Department and Translink and more widely with stakeholders from across the Department's remit. They have all clearly spelled out the fiscal challenges that they face. Investment in our public services is crucial, but so, too, is ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within budget. We hear some other parties call relentlessly for the devolution of further fiscal powers, but perhaps there should also be a focus on tackling some of the preventable waste across the system. The Department for Infrastructure forecasts that it will spend its resource and capital budgets in full. It is vital to ensure that it remains on track, so that moneys are not returned needlessly. The SSEs reflect earmarked capital allocations for the A5, the A6 and the Belfast transport hub. It is important that those projects continue to advance. Throughout the year, there have been welcome additional funding allocations in resource and capital, which has included funding being delivered for NI Water and Translink. As is the case across all the Departments, however, that additional funding does not meet the requirements. The in-year allocations have allowed the transport and road asset management (TRAM) group to be agile and deliver much-needed resurfacing and maintenance schemes that were shovel ready, subject to funds becoming available. Such agility in our Departments is key so that, if and when money becomes available, they are ready to capitalise on the opportunity. There continue to be huge challenges in our waste water infrastructure. The current untenable situation is curtailing economic investment and access to fair and affordable housing, with housing waiting lists growing weekly in every corner of Northern Ireland. Everyone in the House should recognise that challenge. I know that the Minister has done work on that over the past year, and I trust that that work will continue. The new Infrastructure Minister has an opportunity to demonstrate that she is serious about delivering the positive change for all in the delivery of water and waste water infrastructure that she referred to last week following meetings with stakeholders. We acknowledge that the water, flooding and sustainable drainage Bill will look at the feasibility of developers making additional funding contributions. Those solutions and some creativity are welcome. NI Water also has a key role in tackling that problem, as it knows best what needs to be done. It needs to look at best practice across the globe and at all possible measures to try to turn the tide on a major issue that is crippling our economy and impacting on our daily lives. We need to balance extra investment with new, innovative and sustainable technological solutions.

The Department for Infrastructure has said that budgetary pressures have led to routine road maintenance activities being reduced to a limited service. That has been in place for a number of years. However, the startling statistics that show that over £30 million was spent on vehicle and personal injury claims on our roads between 2018 and 2023 indicate that the Department seems to have adopted a penny wise and pound foolish approach to maintaining our road network. There also needs to be a focus on promoting a more efficient planning process centrally and across our 11 councils, where we have 11 different models with 11 different stages of local development plans impacting on our councils. There is a need for variation across the country, but there also needs to be uniformity in many key aspects. We need to see action on delivering more efficient statutory consultee response times and promote good practice to make our planning system more efficient, effective and fit for purpose so that we can deliver for all our communities and ensure that we are attractive for investment that can grow our economy. We in the DUP will continue to focus on an infrastructure that supports active travel and improves structured working between local and central government to improve our active travel infrastructure and address the regional imbalance that exists, particularly in our public transport network and infrastructure. Road safety is another important issue that needs to be addressed, along with many more. There were 68 fatalities last year and 71 in 2023, and those are a stark and tragic reminder of the devastating consequences of the dangers on our roads. In recent weeks and months, we have seen the impact of winter weather — storm Éowyn was mentioned — and the value of the Department for Infrastructure staff must be recognised, alongside that of NIE, working together with NI Water, to get our country reconnected and kept safe in such difficult circumstances. The National Insurance issue, as has been mentioned across the House, is another key challenge from which the Department for Infrastructure does not escape. It leads to recruitment and retention challenges in the Department, and I know that the Minister is aware of that. The National Insurance issue adds even more complications. The changes by the Labour Government will, obviously, create a further significant challenge in the upcoming financial year and beyond. We need to see more clarity from the Minister. He has been in place now for a number of weeks. He is a very experienced Minister, and he knows the issues, so we hope to see more clarity from the Minister on their impact. There are many more issues, and I know that they will be covered in more detail in the House tomorrow. I am sure that we all look forward to that.

1,070 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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