Debate contribution: Budget Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on .
- MLA
- Mr Colin McGrath
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 24 February 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Budget Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5404517
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I do not intend to speak for long. I will just put a particular slant on the issue of the Health budget and our system, which looks back at the Budget over the past year. We often think that Budget debates are about the year ahead, but this one puts in proper order the decisions that have been taken over the past year. It is evident that there are many problems in the health service and that those problems remain as a result of two issues. The first issue is the underfunding of the health service. Even though — this is the anomaly — it gets the largest slice of the Budget here, that does not reflect the massive scale of the need in our community for people to avail themselves of health services for treatment, whether that is because of waiting times in emergency departments or as a result of waiting lists. There is a backlog in and underfunding of our mental health services, people are desperately waiting for ambulances, there are problems for people in accessing GP services and with the funding of community pharmacies, and Fire and Rescue Service funding also comes out of the Department of Health's budget. The list goes on, and, in every element, there is a shortage. When there is a shortage in the Department of Health, it means that people are impacted on or that they will wait longer, or that, as on most occasions, they are impacted on as they wait longer. The second issue is transformation. We have been promised health service transformation for a generation. That transformation will require funding, and I want to address that budgetary element. As I look back over the past year, I do not see an awful lot of movement towards meaningful transformation, and some of that is as a result of a lack of funds. Looking forward to real change, we need to see transformation baked into a three-year Budget, so that the service is fit for the future, will deal with the backlog and will be able to treat people in a timely manner. I do not believe that the transformation agenda has been taken forward correctly. I do not claim to be an expert in finances and figures, but, if it is possible, I would like the Minister, in his summation, to look again at the £842 million that was reduced in the annually managed expenditure (AME) Health budget. As I understand it, that is money that can be flexed around and moved into different places. However, £842 million is not too far off 10% of the Health budget, and it has been reprofiled and moved into different places. We have to wonder how, if priorities are set at the start of a year, we end up where we are at the end of a year and with such massive movements as the year progresses. That makes the process of looking at annual budgets even more difficult. Quite often, at the start of one year, you get what you had at the end of the previous year or you move from the start of the year before. However, when there are such massive movements in-year, that makes tracking a budget very difficult. We, in the Health Committee, try our best to monitor that through the in-year processes. It is reflective of the massive changes that take place throughout the year. I contend that it is very difficult to be strategic if you are constantly changing the platform from which you move. Our health service desperately needs strategic planning and transformation to be able to serve the people whom we represent. That massive movement of in-year money about the place means that the things that we were planning to do at the start of the year are not happening by the end of the year; we are doing something different. We are still spending the money on Health — that is not the argument — but I worry that that massive movement of money does not help us to plan the future and make our health service as responsive as it can be for the people in our communities.
697 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.97).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.97 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.78 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.22 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
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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