Debate contribution: Programme for Government 2024-27

Debate contribution by Mr Philip McGuigan on 3 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Philip McGuigan

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

3 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Programme for Government 2024-27

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4825747

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the publication of the Executive's Programme for Government. It is a positive step, and it demonstrates collective commitment to delivering better public services for all citizens right across the North. Better public services will mean better outcomes for people, which is why there was such a good response to the consultation. I thank the individuals, groups and sectors that responded to it. I speak as my party's health spokesperson. From that perspective, I welcome the narrative in the Programme for Government that key to achieving better health outcomes is a focus on preventative measures to keep people well for longer in the first instance, combined with early detection and timely intervention when required. With over 500,000 people currently on a waiting list to have their first consultation with a specialist, I welcome the fact that cutting waiting times is an Executive priority and that addressing health inequalities is recognised as being part of that solution. The Executive's commitment is evidenced by the significant proportion of the block grant, over 50%, that has been allocated to the Department of Health.

That in itself is by no means a silver bullet. The current challenges in the health service are great and have been discussed at length many times in the Chamber, most recently during the Budget Bill debate. We are still dealing with the impact of the COVID pandemic on our waiting lists. Our health service has growing demand and need, coupled with workforce and capacity challenges, and we have an ageing population with co-occurring and complex needs.

Despite the difficulties and pressures, we must do all within our power to reduce the unacceptable waiting lists. As I said, over 500,000 people — a quarter of our population in the North — are on a waiting list to have their first consultation with a specialist. That figure is unacceptable, and we need to see action taken in the year ahead so that we can start to turn the corner and reduce that number. That is especially the case for cancer waiting lists and services, where urgency is key to treatment, key to outcomes and, indeed, key to saving lives. It is clear that tackling that priority in the Programme for Government will require long-term planning, as well as multi-year Budgets to support the health service to deliver a consistent, high-quality and sustainable level of care and to provide better health outcomes for our population, regardless of where they live. I therefore welcome the commitment to the target to invest up to £135 million a year to reduce waiting lists by treating an additional 70,000 patients, as well as to invest a further £80 million a year to increase elective care capacity through the expansion of elective care centres and mega-clinics, which will reduce the demand on capacity that causes our waiting lists to grow. As with any Programme for Government, there is always more that could be included and always more that needs to be done, even within the identified priorities. There is, however, a growing acknowledgement that the Executive simply do not have the Budget or the fiscal levers to generate finances at the level required. We all know that the North has been chronically underfunded in the past and the impact that that has had on our public services. Indeed, we continue to be underfunded. As a devolved institution, our ability to deliver for our population will always be constrained by decisions made in Westminster, where the interests of the people here will never be a top priority. The only way in which to truly address the challenges that we face in health, and across all our other public services, is through constitutional change. That is a discussion that is gathering pace, and one that can no longer be easily dismissed. In the meantime, the Programme for Government is undoubtedly a positive step. The achievements of our previous and current Finance Ministers in securing additional funding from the British Government represent a step forward and are significant, as is the argument for maximum devolution of fiscal powers to the North. That argument must be pursued, but our ambition for our people has to be greater and based on our having the maximum ability to shape our own decisions. That is why the conversation on constitutional change is so important and must continue at pace. It is the route map to truly addressing the issues with all our public services and to delivering better outcomes for all the people whom we represent.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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