Debate contribution: December Monitoring

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 9 December 2025.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

9 December 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

December Monitoring

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5295965

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Criminal mismanagement. If the Member has any evidence of criminal mismanagement, he should bring it forward. It sounds to me like a very serious accusation for the leader of the Opposition to make. If the leader of the Opposition has any evidence to back that up, the leader of the Opposition should come forward with it. It has become Matthew's job to be the dark cloud over the Executive. No matter what you come forward with, Matthew will find fault with it; he will direct a negative agenda towards it; and he will attempt to get a headline that is as dramatic as possible and runs down the efforts of the Executive, the Assembly and public-sector workers to improve the daily lives of the people whom we all serve. The fact of the matter is that, today, despite all your suggestions in the Chamber yesterday, the Executive agreed almost £300 million of funding for front-line public services that will improve the lives of the citizens whom we all serve. Despite your, perhaps, wishing overnight with your fingers crossed, the Executive agreed that this morning, and we will now move on to the multi-year Budget.

It is worth remembering that the Chancellor's autumn Budget was probably four weeks later this year than it usually is because of needs in Westminster and elsewhere. We were operating four weeks behind the usual time frame. While a significant proportion of the funding has been returned from the A5 and other sectors — the A5 is beyond our control at this stage because of legal challenges; legal deliberations on it are taking place today — the Departments have to improve how they deliver capital projects. I am not arguing against that, but we allocated the money to all Departments as soon as it was practically possible. I welcome the fact that we have increased and will significantly increase the delivery of social housing as we move forward. I mentioned in my statement that there would be a further fiscal event at Westminster: the Estimates in January. Some small amounts of capital may come from that, and we will again allocate those to Departments that can spend them in the time frame in which we are able to do so. The multi-year Budget will allow us to plan much better the delivery of major capital projects, which will mean that less capital comes to the centre. At the end of the day, this money today is going to projects that are worthy and needed and would not have been delivered otherwise.

I, too, pay tribute to Willie. I do not think that he is in the Chamber, but I understand that he is stepping down from this place — the lucky duck — so he is moving on to other things. We have made a significant investment in the Department for Infrastructure, covering a wide range of areas, including water services, public transport, road maintenance, drinking water infrastructure and trains and infrastructure for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service. It is about funding that has become available being reinvested in front-line public services and making a real difference to people's lives. Water infrastructure and waste water infrastructure are, understandably, often debated in the Chamber and elsewhere, but the further investment in that will allow more businesses and more homes to be connected to water and waste water services.

In most institutions, there will be tension between Ministers and the Finance Minister. It would be hugely surprising if other Ministers and I were not in correspondence and engaging with one another. The letters that were leaked to the media are an example of that. I am confident that all Ministers around the Executive table see the worthiness of a three-year Budget. I have no doubt that there will be some bartering and negotiations ahead of our getting an agreed draft Budget out to public consultation, but all Ministers see the benefit of having a three-year Budget, and, when they focus on those benefits, that will allow us to deliver a Budget for public consultation.

The Executive have agreed a ministerial direction that authorises the Health Minister to proceed with the health workers' pay award. There should be no doubt in the Chamber that the health sector's pay award is going ahead.

That is a welcome allocation of £6 million for Irish-medium education and for Iontaobhas na Gaelscolaíochta for the facilities that it provides to the Irish-medium sector. It is a significant investment, but I have no doubt that continued investment in that sector and others will be needed. That, again, shows the value of monitoring rounds, by which funding can be allocated to areas of need. Those areas of need can absorb that funding quickly.

The final whistle has not blown on this financial year. At least one fiscal event is still to take place in Westminster, from which, I hope, the Executive will benefit, although I do not suggest that that will be by huge amounts. There may also be some reprioritisation of capital in the Executive's Budget. I will commit to working with all Ministers to ensure that that funding is spent where it can be delivered. If it can be delivered in social housing, I will have no difficulty in directing it towards social housing. As I said to Mr Tennyson, I have no doubt that there will be robust engagement and negotiations around the three-year Budget and that, if Ministers keep themselves focused on the need for a three-year Budget and the benefits that it will bring to all Departments, we will get it delivered.

I am on record saying that one of the recommendations that I will make as part of the multi-year Budget will be that the fund for the police recovery plan be supported and that we see a recovery in our police numbers. That is essential to delivering front-line public services, of which policing is one. It will also assist the police to recruit from across our community, ensuring that policing represents the community that it serves.

They will go across a range of areas. Social housing, which is one of those commitments, has been mentioned. Significant investment is going into bringing us towards the target for social housing. There has been other investment. If you look at infrastructure, for instance, you will see that allocations to that will allow us to develop more homes and connect more businesses. There are investments in further and higher education, such as investment in skills etc. That is a theme of the Programme for Government where our economy is concerned and for ensuring that we have a skilled workforce to further develop and support that economy.

The delivery of the pay award is down to the Justice Minister and the Chief Constable. I have no doubt that the Justice Minister will comment further on that later today. My understanding is that legal engagement on the data breach will not conclude in this financial year. That will allow us to plan making payment on the data breach in the following financial year. That is the recommendation that I will make to my Executive colleagues. However, we continue to engage with the Treasury and others to urge them to allow the Assembly and the Executive access to the reserve claim. That goes to the highest levels of government, including the Prime Minister.

Let us not send out a mixed message from the Chamber today. Let us be very clear about this: the pay award for health and social care workers is going to be paid. That is beyond doubt. The Executive have passed a ministerial direction supporting the Health Minister on that. It will go ahead, therefore, and it will be paid. There is no doubt or question about that. How the Executive deal with that in their future Budget is entirely a matter for the Executive. I will make recommendations to the Executive on the three-year Budget and how we deal with the potential overspends of this year. It will be up to my Executive colleagues to decide how to respond to those. As I said to another Member, however, the final whistle has not blown on this financial year. The game is still on. There can be changes in circumstances from month to month that may be to people's advantage or disadvantage, but I continually monitor the situation and engage with Executive colleagues to ensure that overspend is minimised to as little as possible.

Around £5 million has been set aside for urgent repairs to the health estate, and there is a substantial investment in IT equipment for the health sector. It is vital that we have modern, up-to-date IT equipment in all Departments, but particularly in the health sector, to allow it to run as efficient and effective a service as possible.

I am sure that the Education Minister will further outline how he intends to deal with the pressures facing his Department, and the particular pressure with regard to teachers and education workers' pay. I will support any ministerial direction if it is in line with and similar to the way in which the Health Minister approached the issue previously. That is the way forward; it is a well-tested route, and it received a collective response from the Executive. I am willing to work with the Education Minister on that. I think that there is a way through it, but it has to be a managed process.

I am not aware of any projects, other than the ones that we have funded at this stage, but, again, I have encouraged Ministers and their senior officials to engage with the various sectors with which they operate, to see whether we can further invest that FTC.

1,622 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:07 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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