Debate contribution: Executive Progress

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 19 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

19 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Executive Progress

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5322103

Read the official Assembly record

Text

There is no doubt that the Executive are failing to deliver on their core responsibilities and that the public have been completely and utterly let down. Most of the Executive's legislative programme consists of technical or catch-up Bills. Executive parties are too busy sticking the boot into one another to govern properly. They came together to veto incredibly modest proposals for a nutrients action programme to protect Lough Neagh. The DUP is obviously blocking the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency and obstructing progress on Irish language at every turn and will spend plenary time tomorrow debating illegal Sinn Féin billboards. It would be absolutely hilarious if it was not using time for that whilst our communities crumble under real issues. The issues referenced in the motion — not delivering on Programme for Government targets, siloed working, lack of an agreed multi-year Budget, underfunding and Budget mismanagement — are all hindering progress. However, none of that, I am afraid, gets to the core of the problem. People have lost faith in the Executive, because the Executive have failed to break with the regressive and punitive economic strategy advanced by the Treasury and successive British Governments. How many times has the Finance Minister told Departments to live within their means? Instead of charting a new course, the Executive have simply accepted Westminster's failed economic model wholesale. Year after year, the rich line their pockets at the expense of ordinary people. Those people are doomed to languish on health waiting lists unless they have money to go private. People are forced to pay extortionate rents, because they cannot get on the property ladder. Others are raising their kids in temporary accommodation, waiting years for a permanent social home. Ordinary people are working for a minimum wage, while the top 100 businesses make profits of around £2 billion. That is the reality of the system that the Executive are maintaining. They cheerlead, promote and celebrate that figure. This is what sticks in the throat of the ordinary person: there is plenty of wealth in the North, but the Executive refuse to touch it. They will not challenge the corporations that are hoarding billions. They will not touch the industrial derating that sees tens of millions handed to big businesses every year. They talk about hard choices but refuse to make the only choice that matters by forcing those who can afford to pay their fair share to pay up. That is where the official Opposition falls short. It is unable or, I would say, unwilling to hold the Executive to account over their failure to tackle wealth inequality, because it hopes to get its hands on the levers of power again one day. The official Opposition will not challenge the economic orthodoxy, because it wants to manage it and not dismantle it. The Pivotal report painted a stark picture. We are now almost two years on, and there have been no tangible improvements to people's lives. That is not just me speaking; that comes from Pivotal. It is more than mere incompetence; it is a political choice to manage decline rather than challenge the economic model that is failing working-class people in my community and elsewhere every day of the week. Executive parties could tax wealth, end corporate handouts and build a progressive alternative, but they fail to do so. They will not do so, because, fundamentally, they are wedded to the same failed system. Fundamentally, until we break with neoliberalism and build an economy that puts people before profit, nothing will change in this place.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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