Debate contribution: North/South Bodies: Funding

Debate contribution by Ms Sian Mulholland on 27 May 2025.

MLA

Ms Sian Mulholland

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

27 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

North/South Bodies: Funding

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4972571

Read the official Assembly record

Text

We have all heard it: at a time when our public services are under immense strain, the public rightly expect the Executive to use every tool and every partnership available to them to protect what matters. That includes cooperation with the Irish Government on funding streams that would directly benefit communities in Northern Ireland. In the Chamber, we often hear the phrase "value for money" or the word "efficiency", but those principles fall flat when we fail repeatedly to accept offers of funding opportunities that could provide direct and measurable support to the people whom we represent, simply because they involve joint ventures with the Republic of Ireland. We are more than happy to pursue global trade opportunities — crossing oceans without hesitation — yet, when it comes to engaging in cross-border funding on this small island, too often we either say "No" loudly or we quietly let the opportunity pass by. This is not a question of ideology — at least, it should not be. It is a question about whether we are serious about building sustainable, inclusive services, or whether we are content to let communities shoulder the consequences of political inaction in this place. In response to Mr Kingston's comment, I say that our response to this issue does not mean that we no longer support the Good Friday Agreement. It is because we see the Good Friday Agreement not as a final destination but as something that needs to be nurtured and allowed to develop as we continue on the post-conflict journey. It is not the be-all and end-all; we know that it is a living, breathing and evolving thing. Just weeks ago, my colleague David Honeyford MLA asked Minister Lyons what sporting facilities in Northern Ireland —.

Yes, go ahead.

I put it back to the Member: if there is going to be cross-community benefit from this funding, surely that is something that you would fight for as an MLA, as any MLA in the House would do. My colleague David Honeyford MLA asked Minister Lyons what sporting facilities in Northern Ireland would benefit from the Shared Island Fund — a significant pot of funding that has been made available by the Irish Government. The Minister's reply was that he had not corresponded with the Irish Government on the matter. That is a serious, missed opportunity. The Shared Island Fund is there to support infrastructure and connectivity across the island, sporting facilities included. Why would we not actively pursue that type of funding when Departments, such as the Department for Communities, are having to make very difficult cuts? Not to do so is a failure to act in the public interest. When investment is available, at no cost to the Executive — at no cost to any constituent in any constituency — to deliver services, improve inclusion and empower communities, why would we not take it? The answer, I fear, lies not in policy but in politics. We are witnessing an ideological hesitation to engage in anything cross-border. We saw it with the delays and resistance around the North/South Ministerial Council; we see it again and again when proposals come forward that involve cooperation with Dublin; and now we are seeing it in how funding decisions are made — based not on need or equality but on optics and political comfort. It is also important to highlight the unsustainable position in which this situation places the Irish language organisations. I say that as communities spokesperson for the party. In recent months, Foras na Gaeilge was forced to announce more than €800,000 in cuts; those cuts impacted on groups working across Northern Ireland. They were reversed thanks only to a one-off intervention from the Irish Government, not the Executive. As someone who engages regularly with the organisations in my constituency, which have engaged with 2,500 people this year alone through funding from Foras na Gaeilge, and whose people do the work and the outreach, I know that it is important. Furthermore, the fact is that they could do so much more. The development officer has told me that she is flat out and busy and that the figures do not represent half of the work that she is doing. The underlying problem remains: the Irish Government have a willingness to increase their contribution, but current rules require Stormont to match that funding, and proposals to reform that arrangement have been blocked repeatedly. We have to ask why. That means that the crisis will return next January, the January after that and the January after that for those groups unless political progress is made. Why, when Departments such as the Department for Communities are under such intense financial strain, are we not doing everything possible to draw down any available cross-border funding? I want to know what the rationale is for rejecting support that could sustain the very services that border communities in particular rely on, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. We in the Alliance Party believe in inclusion and fairness. We believe that public funding decisions should be guided by need and evidence, not political discomfort. We have to stop treating cultural identity as a zero-sum game. It is not. Fairness for one tradition should never be interpreted as a threat to another. To conclude on a positive note, the all-island congenital heart disease network literally saves lives. It is another example of what is possible —

— when we put patient outcomes before politics.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:37 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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