News NI
A meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive to agree a long-delayed programme for government has been postponed.
The meeting was due to be held on Wednesday morning but it emerged late on Tuesday night that further work is required.
It comes after the draft document was agreed in September 2024 and sent out for public consultation.
The 88-page document, entitled Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most, sets out the executive’s ambitions under several core areas.
Sources say the delay doesn’t mean a programme won’t be agreed but it is not yet ready to be signed off.
Nevertheless this development does raise obvious questions about the four party coalition’s ability to govern cohesively.
There had previously been an expectation that the programme for government would be agreed before the anniversary of Stormont’s return earlier this month, however, that did not happen.
Speaking on Tuesday, Justice Minister Naomi Long said she would have liked to have seen the document agreed sooner but “it’s a four party executive, things don’t happen at the pace some of us would like but we are there now hopefully”.
She said the important thing was “what we can deliver over the remaining two years of this mandate”.
“I have quite an ambitious agenda in terms of what I want to be able to do and finance permitting, hope to be able to achieve some of that in the next two years” she added.
It is expected that most of the content of the draft document will be in the finalised programme for government but it is uncertain if it will contain detailed timelines.
Previously, the SDLP leader of the opposition, Matthew O’Toole criticised the lack of clear targets and called for ministers to address specifically reducing waiting list times, as he could not find this when looking through the document.
What are the Executive’s nine priorities?
- Grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy
- Deliver more affordable childcare
- Ending violence against women and girls
- Better support for children and young people with special educational needs
- Provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing
- Protect Lough Neagh and the environment
- Reform and transformation of public services
When was the last programme for government agreed?
It’s been a while since the last programme for government was approved.
Northern Ireland’s devolved government was restored in February 2024 after the DUP ended a two-year boycott over post-Brexit checks on goods going between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The last time an executive managed to get one over the line was during the Assembly’s fourth term between 2011 and 2015.
One was also agreed in 2016 and went out to public consultation.
However before it could be passed, the then Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigned in January 2017 and power sharing collapsed.
