Northern Ireland’s Plan to ‘Do What Matters Most Fails to Address key Problems and Ignores Previous Pledges’

Northern Ireland has its first draft programme for government since 2016 but the absence of key socio-economic challenges, measures for success, or an outcomes-based approach exposes the limitations of the region’s continued consociational power-sharing arrangements.

The draft programme for government (dPfG), titled ‘Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most’, includes three missions and nine areas for action. The latter include ending violence against women and girls, providing more social housing, delivering affordable childcare, supporting special educational needs, cutting health waiting times, economic growth, reforming public services, creating safer communities, and protecting the environment.

It was clear from the First and Deputy First Ministers’ statements that they were proud of achieving this milestone, despite it being a basic component of a functioning government.

Whilst the plan is progress in a region dogged by political stasis, the executive has failed to grasp the nettle of Northern Ireland’s problems, dropping long-standing proposals to address poverty, transform health, and advance environmental protections.

Herein lies a common trend in Northern Irish politics; commitments are made, undelivered, and then subsequently watered down or abdicated-on entirely in a fresh agreement, none of which have been fully implemented, including the Good Friday Agreement.

Some of the notable departures from previous agreements in the executive’s new plan include, healthcare, poverty and the environment.

Healthcare: the dPfG committed to reducing Northern Ireland’s healthcare waiting lists which are by far the worst in the UK, but fails to outline how such a feat will be achieved.

Previous agreements committed to implementing the 2016 Bengoa report, a ten-year health and social care transformation plan that not only hasn’t been implemented but is entirely absent from the executive’s plan.

Environmental: establishment of an independent environmental agency has been axed, despite the environmental catastrophe at Lough Neagh or Northern Ireland’s status as one of the most nature depleted areas in Europe.

Poverty: the executive previously agreed to develop and implement an anti-poverty strategy and a child poverty strategy; neither are mentioned in the dPfG. A commitment to an anti-poverty strategy dates back to the 2006 St Andrew’s agreement, people in Northern Ireland are still waiting.

Further notable gaps include no reference to mental health or Irish language – including the appointment of an Irish language commissioner – welfare mitigations, and a previous commitment in New Decade New Approach, the 2020 deal that restored Stormont, to hold one citizens’ assembly a year.

To date there has been no executive actioned citizens’ assembly, and with this programme for government there does not appear to be any intention of ever having one.

Many of the dropped commitments had been politically contentious with disagreement and opposition from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on areas including Irish language rights, and structures such as a citizens’ assembly or the earlier attempt at a Civic forum.

The dPfG is a compromise agreement.

The dPfG made several references to budget restraints as the reason for limitations on delivery, but offered nothing in the way of solutions, including possible revenue-raising options.

Northern Ireland’s political representatives have long avoided making difficult, and likely unpopular, decisions in regard to generating income, but continuing to hold the hand out for more from Westminster is not a sustainable plan for the future.

The biggest issue is the absence of measures; SDLP Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole said it was “shockingly little by way of specific targets”.

Other tepid responses include that of the British Medical Association NI Council chair Dr Alan Stout who criticised the approach to healthcare, saying, “Truly changing our health service may mean taking unpopular decisions, but we cannot keep doing what we are doing and hope it will lead to better outcomes.”

What the dPfG has in spades are plans for plans; a Tourism Strategic action plan, sub-regional economic action plan, environmental improvement plan, climate action plan, sustainability plan, and several others.

Northern Ireland has had very little in the way of delivery, 88 pages of aspirations with no measures of success, targets, or timelines suggests that the executive may not have much faith that it can deliver.

Due to two years of collapse, this is a squeezed mandate with fewer than three years to turn any of the commitments into real action.

The draft programme now goes to an eight-week public consultation period ending on November 4. One can expect the slew of aggrieved groups who are not adequately represented in the current draft to include rural communities, disabled communities, women, and LGBTQI+ groups.

Northern Ireland and the peace process have been stagnant for decades; mandatory power-sharing is based on the principle of compromise but forcing conservative and more liberal parties to create a joint programme for government stymies innovation.

Rather than a transformative approach, parties settle for the proposals that are least likely to be opposed or vetoed. We will never have a truly ambitious vision for government under power sharing and without reform over how Stormont functions, another collapse would seem inevitable.

Rather than bin the commitment to provide citizens’ assemblies, the executive should be forming a citizens’ assembly to address Stormont reform, and rather than forego previous commitments, the executive needs to form the habit of delivering upon them.