Fading trust between Northern Ireland’s political parties has sharply weakened the Stormont Executive, a public policy review has warned.
Important issues are “stuck” in limbo because parties will not allow ministers from other parties even to list them on the Executive’s agenda, the Belfast-based think tank Pivotal said in a report marking the second anniversary of the resumption of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive.
“Parties and ministers seem increasingly to be operating individually rather than collectively,” said the group.
The think tank said powersharing coalitions were always difficult to manage, but successful periods in the past relied on strong leadership, trust and a joint commitment to deliver for Northern Ireland’s people.
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“The consequence of an increasingly divided Executive is that opportunities to move ahead on difficult issues are being missed,” the independent think tank said in its latest biannual report.
Listing some of the failures, Pivotal said the Executive’s anti-poverty strategy was dismissed by campaigners and no plan had been published to reshape Northern Ireland’s hospitals, while crumbling water and sewerage networks were halting new housing and industry.
“There is still no published plan for reporting and scrutiny of delivery against the Programme for Government priorities. An investment strategy setting out a 30-year vision for infrastructure and other capital spending has still not been published,” it said.
It remains “difficult to properly assess” exactly what the Executive has delivered in its two years, since Stormont ministers have failed to agree on how such an examination would happen.
“The last six months have seen relationships deteriorate between the Executive parties, alongside delays in some priority areas,” said Pivotal, which was set up in 2019 to offer independent analysis of Northern Ireland’s public administration.
“While the challenges of operating our system of government are well known, when day-to-day debate is taken over by party political point-scoring, it is almost inevitable that the focus on improving services for the public is diminished.”
The proposed multiyear budget from the North’s Minister for Finance, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, was immediately rejected by other ministers, though such a budget offers a chance “to stabilise and transform public services, after 10 years of single-year budgets”, it said.
The funding available over the next three years “is extremely tight and will put unprecedented pressures on departments’ budgets”, but it is “a basic role of government to set a budget and operate within it”, the report said.
Lough Neagh is badly polluted, yet the plan to try to fix it does not have support from all of the parties, while just one in eight pollution cases has led to court fines and penalties that were paid, and enforced.
“Toxins were found in fish in the Lough for the first time. Lough Neagh remains an ecological crisis that may take decades to resolve, but progress must continue to be made,” it warned.
Equally, there is no agreed vision to grow Northern Ireland’s economy by productivity, innovation and investment, while almost 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s economic inactivity rate is due to ill health or disability – the highest in the UK.
“Continued failure to take decisions in these areas will lead to further deterioration in outcomes. Despite the challenges, the Executive needs to work together to find pragmatic solutions, rather than accepting ongoing stalemate,” the report said.
“Stronger relationships and greater trust between the parties would enable increased engagement in the difficult conversations that are needed.”
Noting some gains, Pivotal said important steps have been taken to improve childcare, expand third-level places at Magee College in Derry, agree a public pay deal, and new efforts to reform education, help those with disabilities into work, and better environment rules.
However, the parties in the Executive “need to unite behind common goals that will make life better for people in Northern Ireland” by showing “leadership, good faith and ambition”, it said.
