BELFAST BRIEFING:JUST AS Northern Ireland struggles to keep its head above the murky waters of a recessionary slowdown, growing job losses and consumer gloom, the North's Executive finally decides to launch a lifeboat, writes Francess McDonnell

In the spirit of the season, politicians have agreed to a package of "hardship" measures that will pump £70 million into the local economy.

This initiative, and electricity and gas price cuts, could deliver a welcome thaw in the frozen economic landscape.

Nigel Dodds, the finance minister, believes the new initiative "is good for businesses, good for the construction industry and good for families".

Last month politicians gave the green light to capital investment projects totalling £250 million. The Titanic Signature Project in Belfast, which the Executive is backing to the tune of £43.5 million, will start in January.

The new £70 million in "special funding allocations" agreed by the Executive yesterday is designed to deliver speedy relief to those suffering most in the front line of the economic slowdown. The initiative comes with a health warning - Dodds said politicians desired to do everything possible to help the North through the downturn but he believes "in reality there are only a limited set of levers under our control".

No one expects the hardship package of measures or the Executive to solve the North's immediate economic problems or fight off a recession.

The package is the Executive's acknowledgement that the "bubbles have burst" on both the economic and housing front. Critics will say the Executive should have acknowledged this months ago and leapt to action before the economy deteriorated further. But the hardship initiative is a very positive, welcome local response to a global problem.

It signifies a significant change in the mindset among the North's political leaders. Today, Dodds will meet the leaders of the four main banks. He is keen to impress on local representatives that the lower cost of borrowing must be passed on to households and businesses. He also wants to ensure that additional protection is in place for homeowners who are at risk of default.

The multimillion-pound hardship initiative intends to provide immediate help to people struggling because of the credit crunch. It plans to give a £150 payment to 100,000 low-income households, a signal that politicians are prepared to deliver real solutions to economic woes.

The Executive's initiative also recognises that business and industry are suffering as much as the individual. It contains measures to support businesses under pressure, particularly those in the construction sector. Major construction projects relating to schools and colleges totalling £115 million are now to move ahead without delay. Capital investment expenditure of £9 million allocated for 2010-11 will now be spent in the 2008-09 financial year.

According to Dodds, the total capital investment this year in the North will be £1.5 billion - the largest level of investment in a single year.

Gross capital investment planned for the next two years is likely to exceed £3 billion. And it is not just the construction sector which the Executive is now actively trying to help. It wants to make it easier for small firms to bid for public contracts. The Executive also wants to create a smoother planning system and o deal with the problems many companies are experiencing with cash flow.

The minister wants local government to take the initiative and he has asked all public sector organisations to reduce their targets for paying approved invoices from 30 days to 10 days.

Dodds has proposed a targeted small business rate - if passed it would come into force in 2010. In the meantime he wants the Executive to agree a freeze on non-domestic rates for 2009-10, which he believes would enhance the competitiveness of local firms, protect jobs and incomes and be worth almost £8 million to businesses in 2009-10.

Dodds wants people to see the Executive "taking action with a series of measures which will provide maximum benefit to those areas most in need, while also recognising the financial constraints facing us".

It is not exactly the kind of sentiment for which Santa Claus is typically known but, in the current climate, Dodds is the closest thing to a gift-bearer that Northern Ireland may see for some time.