Politics

SDLP calls for action to remedy defective Stormont government

MLAs to debate party’s motion calling on First and Deputy First Ministers to commit to publishing programme for government

The Stormont Executive and Assembly were restored in February after two years in limbo. Photograph: EPA
The Stormont Executive and Assembly were restored in February after two years in limbo. Photograph: EPA
Freya McClements
Mon May 13 2024 - 06:00

Mechanisms to prevent Stormont “dysfunctionality” must be put in place, the SDLP has said in advance of an Assembly debate today 100 days on from the restoration of the North’s political institutions.

Assembly members [MLAs] are due to debate the party’s motion calling on the First and Deputy First Ministers to commit to publishing a programme for government by the summer recess.

The Leader of the Opposition, SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole, who proposed the motion, said “good vibes” between Ministers were “genuinely welcomed” but “100 days into government, the public rightly expect delivery.”

The Stormont Executive and Assembly were restored in February after two years in limbo due to the DUP’s boycott over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

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In the 2022 Assembly election, which took place during that period of suspension, the SDLP’s only Minister lost her seat and the party opted not to nominate a replacement, choosing instead to go into official Opposition against the four largest parties — Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and Ulster Unionists — who took up ministerial posts in the Executive.

MLAs will also debate another Opposition motion which declares an “ecological and biodiversity crisis” in Lough Neagh and calls for the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency by the end of this Assembly mandate.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme, SDLP MLA Colin McGrath criticised the “dysfunctionality” at Stormont highlighted by the UK inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been sitting in Belfast.

Last week, the inquiry heard evidence from several witnesses who described divisions within the Executive over the handling of the pandemic, including Northern Ireland chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride.

The inquiry heard he sent a WhatsApp message in November 2020 stating that ministers who could not agree on lockdown measures in the face of rising infections should “hang their heads in shame”.

Mr McGrath said the SDLP’s minister at the time, Nichola Mallon, would leave Executive meetings “deeply frustrated because of the rows, the arguments and the inability to take decisions, and that goes to the core of the dysfunctionality that there is between the two lead parties. When you put these two lead parties into government together, it’s dysfunction.

“Why do we not have a programme for government, why do we not have a legislative agenda, why do we not have a shred of legislation going through the Executive after 100 days through the Assembly?

“I think that’s because that same dysfunctionality is still there. We need to have the mechanisms that prevent that dysfunctionality from occurring,” he said.

In a statement to The Irish Times, Sinn Féin said “the four-party Executive’s first act was to deliver fair pay rises to our public sector workers, despite years of Tory cuts and the British government’s failure to properly fund public services in the North.

“The Executive has agreed to prioritise childcare, reducing hospital waiting lists, tackling violence against women and girls, special educational needs, housing, building the economy, creating more and better jobs and transformation of public services to meet the needs of workers and families.

“Detailed work to deliver these priorities will be set out in the Executive’s programme for government … Sinn Féin would welcome and encourage constructive and costed contributions to the programme for government consultation.”

The DUP did not respond to a request for comment.

Freya McClements

Freya McClements

Freya McClements is Northern Editor of The Irish Times