Debate contribution: Budget Bill: Final Stage
Debate contribution by Miss Jemma Dolan on .
- MLA
- Miss Jemma Dolan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 25 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Budget Bill: Final Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4815496
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I think that I gave you a promotion earlier. I thank the Minister for bringing forward the Budget Bill and for his engagement with Members during the debates on it over the past week. Like other Members, I recognise the challenges that our public services face due to historical underfunding and a decade and a half of austerity measures from the British Government. However, it is important to note that there has been progress over the past year, including the delivery of the interim fiscal framework, which has secured an additional £248 million for the forthcoming year. Some notable positives in the Budget include the doubling of funding for childcare, which will help to alleviate the financial pressure that parents face, supporting them to either remain in or return to the workforce, and investment to tackle violence against women and girls, both of which are priorities in the draft Programme for Government. I also welcome other commitments, such as an earmarked allocation to support the agriculture sector and funding for the Mid South West growth deal, which would help to address regional imbalances, including the delivery of a key infrastructure project in my constituency, the A4 Enniskillen bypass. The additional pressure that the British Government's decision to increase National Insurance contributions will have on public-sector budgets has been highlighted repeatedly during debates on the Budget. I reiterate the call for the British Government to mitigate that pressure by covering those costs in full. We need to see the devolution of more fiscal powers. I support the Finance Minister's efforts in his negotiations to ensure that our public services are properly funded. I also support the appointment of Professor Gerry Holtham to conduct an independent review of the North's level of need. In the longer term, we need to have more control over our own affairs in order to achieve greater fiscal sustainability and deliver the public services that our citizens deserve. Finally, I thank the Finance Minister again for bringing the Budget Bill to the Floor.
343 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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