Debate contribution: Budget Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew McMurray on 24 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Andrew McMurray

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

24 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Budget Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5404506

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will try to keep between the tramlines. If I need any lessons in filibustering, I will go to Mr Frew, because he gave a good lesson in it earlier. I speak in my capacity as the Alliance Party's infrastructure spokesperson. Infrastructure affects us all in our everyday lives, and we all know the pressures that the Department is under from roads, waste water and flood alleviation. The Department is responsible for some of the most important functions in our society, but people feel, rightly, that they are being let down. DFI got its largest capital budget in the history of devolution in 2025-26, and that funding should have been prioritised to where it was needed most. Instead, we have crumbling roads and a waste water system that has turned large parts of Northern Ireland into no-go areas for investment and housebuilding. DFI has a massive role to play in tackling climate change and in protecting our environment, but, again, it is falling far short. I shall rehearse some of the issues that the Department faces as a result of financial pressures. Only last week, we debated at length the dreadful state of our roads and the long-standing neglect that they have suffered. We can see accelerated deterioration as a result of climate change and the inclement weather that comes with it. There was broad agreement that we need to invest more in maintaining what is a vital asset, but we cannot ignore the fact that we also need to invest much more in tackling climate change. Such investment needs to be directed at achieving modal shift and upgrading the public transport fleet to using less polluting technologies. We also need to invest better. We heard recently that the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) found no evidence that spending on active travel has significantly increased uptake. That is the case not only because little is spent on it but because active travel schemes were poorly prioritised. Some in the Chamber may feel that active travel is a nice add-on that should not be a priority when there are roads to fix, but pitting road maintenance and active travel against each other is a false economy. Both are vital responsibilities of the Department for Infrastructure, and both need to be properly funded. We will never achieve the modal shift that we so badly need if we do not put in place vital infrastructure. As things stand, neither roads nor active travel are funded to the level that is required. Translink is facing an equally dire situation. Increased demand for concessionary fares has put even more pressure on its budget, but, so far, the Minister has done little to address the threat. The company expects to make a significant operating loss in this financial year, to the point at which it may not be able to meet its day-to-day expenditure requirements. I have not mentioned Northern Ireland Water (NIW) yet. Waste water infrastructure is one of the biggest issues holding this country back. The argument about the impact of our crumbling waste water infrastructure is well rehearsed, but, because the debate is on the Budget Bill, I shall focus on NI Water's finances only. NI Water has said that its 2025-26 funding forecast is below the minimum viable level for a utility of its size. It advised the Committee of an estimated shortfall of approximately £735 million in capital funding and a further estimated shortfall of £49 million in resource funding over the Budget period 2026-29. That sits between the need that was independently assessed by the Utility Regulator and the funding that the utility believes that it might receive over the next few years. The Minister's three-pronged approach has unlocked some capacity for homes, but it has done little to address the fundamental constraints that NI Water faces.

It is not for me to say whether it will work, but, at this point, no: one prong outweighs the other two prongs. That is the nettle that has to be grasped, and it will be up to the Minister to develop and articulate her ideas about that. In order to help to address the devastating state of Lough Neagh and Belfast lough, in-year funding injections have allowed for limited works in different areas across the Infrastructure portfolio, but such one-off injections are inevitably dwarfed by the huge scale of the shortfall that NI Water and DFI Roads face. The large-scale works that are needed to turn our infrastructure around cannot be delivered by an on-off, drip feed of resources. Better solutions are needed. I turn to Department of Justice matters. Whilst the Executive's agreement to set aside funding for PSNI data breach settlements is welcome progress, I draw attention to the outstanding exceptional pressures in the region of £120 million that the Department faces, which relate mainly to the McCloud pension remedy and the settlement of holiday pay claims. It is unclear when those will crystallise, but it is clear that they cannot be absorbed in the Department's general budget allocation. A solution must be found in collaboration with the Minister of Finance. The Department of Justice funds access to justice, building safer communities, our Prison Service, reducing offending rates, support for our Courts and Tribunals Service and the PSNI. It deals with prevention, protection and the aftermath of much of what we deal with as a society. It is all vital work. As my colleagues and I frequently say, the Department of Justice has been historically underfunded. Given that so much of the work is demand-led —.

Thank you for the intervention. I am sure that the Minister will be happy to continue to work constructively with the Member. Given that so much of the work is demand-led, only around 3% of the Justice budget is discretionary. That means that services are incredibly stretched. The Justice Minister, Naomi Long, has sought to prioritise allocations on the basis of the values of a victim-centred justice system, but we cannot continue to underfund Justice while spending elsewhere can be improved.

1,007 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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