‘Showboating and grandstanding’: Green Party’s new senator says Stormont engaged in acts of ‘symbolism’

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly attend the Ireland Funds 32nd National Gala, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, during the Taoiseach's visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Picture date: Wednesday March 13, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH US. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA WireThe restored Northern Ireland Executive has been accused of failing to do more than engage in acts of “symbolism”.

Addressing the Green Party national conference in Dublin, he claimed the Assembly merely debated non-binding motions. There is “no programme for government, no legislative agenda” the public finances are “perilous”, one in four people are on a health waiting list, one in 34 are homeless, and public services are at breaking point. But the Assembly only debates “a repeated series of non-binding motions. That’s not representative democracy. That’s showboating and grandstanding.

Describing Northern Ireland as “traumatised” with intergenerational trauma, he said “we spend less per head than any other part of the UK on mental health and wellbeing, we have the greatest levels of endemic poverty and our drug deaths amongst men aged 25-40 is the highest in Europe bar Scotland”. Earlier this month he was elected unopposed as a Senator in a by-election following the decision of former Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile to stand down for health reasons. Mr O’Hara said Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had described his predecessor as a great voice for Northern nationalists and he wanted to build on that foundation.

The Executive he said, “refuses to discuss revenue raising and bemoans the state of public finances, all the while looking to the British government for additional finance. While austerity, a disinterested Tory government and historic underfunding plays a significant part, surely there is some culpability for those who have been in power on and off for 26 years?”

Northern-Ireland-Assembly Michelle-O-Neill Emma-Little-Pengelly

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