A £900 million financial deal has been struck to kick-start Northern Ireland’s devolved government.
The deal was sealed after talks between British prime minister Gordon Brown and senior Stormont ministers at Downing Street.
The settlement will allow the deferment of water charging in the region for another year and additional money will be used to alleviate the effects of the credit crunch.
The measures were agreed during the first meeting of the Northern Ireland executive since the five month political stalemate at the heart of the powersharing administration was lifted.
First Minister Peter Robinson said the package would help householders cope with the financial downturn.
“We have had probably the longest meeting of the Executive,” he said.
“All of the ministers were fully engaged and there was support from all of the ministers for the work that we had done in securing the arrangements with the prime minister and Treasury which perhaps takes some of the pressure off the finance minister [Nigel Dodds] as we move onto the next stage of the credit crunch.”
A potential funding pressure of £400m per year for the next two years due to anticipated changes to Treasury rules on funding for water supplies in the region has been avoided after weeks of negotiations with the prime minister and Treasury officials.
The deal with Downing Street has also created extra flexibility to enable ministers to access an additional £100m for issues such as fuel poverty.
Ministers attending today’s marathon meeting at Stormont Castle also agreed to ratify Health Minister Michael McGimpsey’s promise to abolish prescription charges by April 2010; the establishment of a centralised education and skills authority to replace the region’s five existing education board and a new planning policy for sustainable development in the countryside.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also welcomed the resumption of Executive work programme.
“It is important that these institutions work in the interests of the people that we represent,” he said.
“Ourselves and the DUP, the UUP and the SDLP are all absolutely dedicated and committed. I don’t have any doubt whatsoever about Peter Robinson as First Minister. This is the work of Government, this is what we are charged to do by the people and that is what we intend to do.”
The first cabinet meeting since June came after the end of the long-running dispute between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin over the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont.
Both parties have agreed a process by which devolution will take place.
PA