It’s hard to quantify how overdue delivery of the draft programme for government is, but surely it would have been better were it already through its eight-week consultation period and formally agreed for the beginning of the new term, which leaves little over two-and-a-half years until the next assembly election.
It also needs to be stressed that the document isn’t in the public domain yet and will only be published on Monday after MLAs get sight of it.
What we know about the programme for government is pretty obvious – it’s been developed under apparent financial constraints and it doesn’t include every policy the executive hopes to bring forward between now and spring 2027.
It includes a list of nine broad policy areas that will be prioritised. There’s no great surprises, as most of the issues that the executive aims to address have dominated the regional news agenda in one way or another over recent months.
They include delivering affordable childcare, reducing health waiting lists and growing the economy. These are matters that arguably every modern administration should seek to tackle, though unfortunately the Stormont executive’s past record, coupled with eight years of intermittent government, means the starting point is already some way behind where people want to be.
Other priorities are clearly worthy and represent areas that the executive has tended to neglect previously. For instance, policies providing better support for children and young people with special educational needs, creating safer communities, and ending violence against women and girls will be welcomed by any right-thinking person, yet the latter two issues especially very often stem from ingrained cultural attitudes that will take a generation to vanquish.
Nobody would argue that they are not deserving of attention or resources but the approach must surely be more strategic than a two-and-a-half year plan that can be measured by some metric of success or failure.
The pledge to provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing will surprise no-one, as we’re quickly reaching crisis point. What won’t go unnoticed, however, is that we’ve heard similar before from the very same people yet we’re no closer to addressing the problem in a meaningful manner.
Glaringly absent from what we’ve heard so far about the programme for government is the related issue of addressing the looming catastrophe around waste water, which is hindering house building right across the north.
In terms of reforming and transforming public services, you’d be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vú. Until there’s collective responsibility and a desire to ditch populism, were likely to keep going round in circles
As for the pledge to protect Lough Neagh and the environment, you can only despair. It was, after all, Stormont’s advocacy of agrifood expansion, coupled with light touch approach to tackling environmental damage, that caused the current crisis. You really have to wonder if they’re sincere about cleaning up their own mess.
