Programme for government a ‘significant milestone’

The Programme for Government that was presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday is a “missed opportunity”, the leader of the opposition has said.

The plan, called Doing What Matters Most, was unanimously agreed by the four parties in the executive last week.

Presenting it to the assembly on Monday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill said it was a “significant milestone”.

However, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) member Matthew O’Toole said his party would be “demanding better than this late, limp, listless programme for government”.

Treating an extra 70,000 patients to reduce hospital waiting lists and building more than 5,000 new social homes by 2027 are targets for the government in the programme.

Speaking in the assembly, O’Neill said the final document recognised the four-party executive’s “shared ambitions”.

It is just over a year since the Northern Ireland Executive reformed in February 2024.

A draft version of the programme was published last September before an eight-week public consultation.

More than 1,400 responses were received in the consultation process for the draft programme for government.

The SDLP’s O’Toole said: “This document contains aspirations we share, but it is far short of the kind of clear, targeted plan that the people of Northern Ireland deserve after so many years of failure,” he told the assembly.

He added: “This programme is better than nothing. It’s a modest improvement on the draft, but it’s a missed opportunity. It’s nowhere near good enough.

“I say to the first and deputy first ministers, and indeed all ministers – is this it?”

The final document runs to 100 pages and focuses on nine key priorities:

• Grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy
• Deliver more affordable childcare
• Cut health waiting lists
• Ending violence against women and girls
• Better support for children and young people with special educational needs
• Provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing
• Safer communities
• Protect Lough Neagh and the environment
• Reform and transformation of public services

O’Neill, the Sinn Féin vice-president said the programme showed the public parties were “willing to work together to do right by them.”

“I believe the programme for government shows what we need to prioritise in order to make this a better place to live, work and invest,” O’Neill said.

“As a result we have introduced targets and annual objectives, which will be updated each year aligned to our budget.”

Democratic Unionist Party assembly member (MLA) Cheryl Brownlee told the assembly that agreement of the programme “truly matters”.

“A programme for government isn’t just about policies, it’s about actions and making real change that changes that improves lives,” she said.

“If we’re serious about delivering real change, we must ensure that the collection and sharing analysis of data sits at the heart of reform.”

Alliance Party deputy leader Eóin Tennyson said the process of developing the Programme for Government was “fraught at times” and involved “needless delay”, but he welcomed agreement on it as a “step forward”.

He said the paper was not an “exhaustive list” of what ministers would achieve, “nor should it be seen as the ceiling of our ambition”.

“It does however set out a series of positive proposals in a number of areas where there is consensus amongst the four parties within mandatory coalition,” he said.

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) said it was “beyond disappointing” that the programme for government failed to make “cast-iron promises” on police numbers and general funding.

PFNI chair Liam Kelly said: “This is dismaying. It is a standstill agenda. All we have here an intention to ‘develop a robust business case that will seek to stabilise, and begin to grow, police officer numbers’.

“There is nothing to say what that actually means or a fixed timeline.”

Alongside the priorities there are specific targets.

On the issue of waiting lists, the Programme for Government said that by 2027, which is when the assembly mandate runs out, the executive will have invested up to £135m a year “to reduce waiting lists by treating an additional 70,000 patients”.

It added that it would also increase elective care capacity through expansion of elective care centres and mega clinics by investing an extra £80m a year to “remove the demand/capacity gap that causes waiting lists to grow”.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said the amounts were “very dramatic and very welcome”, but he would be writing to the first and deputy first ministers, and the finance minister, to seek clarity on the proposals and timelines.

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) minister added that £80m is what is needed to stop waiting lists getting longer, and £135m was needed per year for five years to reduce them.

“If that money’s come in… I need to start planning immediately about getting that money out and getting people seen in a more timely manner,” he said.

On social housing, the document said that the executive “want to commit to the long-term public subsidy required to deliver more social homes”.

Its target for 2027 is to have started work on at least 5,850 new build social homes in Northern Ireland.

Kirsten Hewitt, director of homelessness services at the Simon Community, told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster that while the organisation welcomed the focus on social housing, further action was needed.

“Absolutely, it’s so important but what we need are the actions that are associated with that – how are we going to deliver at least 2,000 social homes each year because that’s whats needed in Northern Ireland.

“Last year, we had just over 1,300 built so we really need to improve.”

She said government departments needed to work together to address homelessness.

On childcare, the executive said that it would have agreed a comprehensive Early Learning and Childcare Strategy.

It also committed to increasing renewable electricity capacity by 40% by 2027 and considering an Employment Rights Bill for introduction in the assembly.

The document also specifically mentioned the issue of special educational needs and said the executive would produce a reform agenda and delivery plan to help improve outcomes for children with SEN and their families.

The paper stated that the executive would “make progress” on the redevelopment of Casement Park, but did not include a definitive timeframe for this.

The programme for government also committed to establishing a delivery unit to drive reform and transformation across government and wider public services.

Alongside the document, the executive promised to keep the public updated by “publishing annual reports on the progress we are making”.

It added: “This will show that meaningful progress is being made to deliver the projects and programmes included in the programme for government.”