Debate contribution: Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
Debate contribution by Mr Maurice Bradley on .
- MLA
- Mr Maurice Bradley
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Committee Business
- Heading
- Committee for Communities: Report on Engagement with Local Government on the Draft Anti-poverty Strategy
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5582569
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the motion, and the engagement that was had with local government regarding the anti-poverty strategy. It became clear through the Committee's work that councils across Northern Ireland already carry out critical front-line interventions to support families who face hardship every day. However, councils delivered the clear message that the draft strategy lacks the ambition, clarity and structural integration that are needed to genuinely tackle poverty. During the engagement process, we heard deeply concerning evidence that over 110,000 children in Northern Ireland live in poverty and that many working families are unable to make ends meet despite being in employment. We also heard shocking evidence that, in some rural areas, people die having spent the last years of their life in poverty. The report recognises that poverty cannot be solved through temporary crisis measures alone. Food parcels and emergency fuel payments may provide short-term relief but do not address the root causes of deprivation. The Committee heard repeatedly that issues such as housing shortages, rising childcare costs, poor rural transport and economic inactivity trap people in cycles of poverty. Those structural problems require coordinated cross-departmental solutions. One of the strongest recommendations in the report is the proper integration of local government in the delivery of the strategy. Councils' community planning partnerships already bring together health services, housing bodies, voluntary organisations and communities; the partnerships must now be formally recognised and properly empowered. The report highlights the damaging impact of short-term funding models on the community and voluntary sector. Vital advice services and support organisations spend too much time chasing insecure funding instead of delivering services to those in greatest need. If the strategy is to succeed, it must move beyond managing poverty and begin to prevent it. That means sustained investment, joined-up government, better data-sharing, and meaningful engagement with those who have lived experience of poverty. The Executive have an opportunity and a responsibility to deliver a strategy that is robust, properly funded and capable of making real, lasting change in people's lives. Economic activity from regionally balanced investment in employment opportunities is a must. We must provide people with the financial means to enable them to rise above the poverty trap. We, therefore, need an integrated strategy that aligns financial help in the cost-of-living crisis; economic investment; education; proper social housing; and training to help those in poverty to escape that trap. With two district electoral areas (DEAs) in the top 10 areas of deprivation, Causeway Coast and Glens is Northern Ireland's forgotten area. Wedged between Londonderry and Belfast, investment there is piecemeal, higher education provision there is piecemeal, and the effects of regional balance have not yet touched my area. I urge the Executive to ensure that the anti-poverty strategy is properly funded. It is not good enough to talk the talk; we need action and proper funding to initiate the strategy — and to do so with our council partners. I learned just last week that the Causeway Coast and Glens area has the highest level of obesity among young people in Northern Ireland and high levels of economic inactivity. I welcome the motion.
518 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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