The Northern Ireland Conservatives’ chairman, Irwin Armstrong, has said that, on first impressions, the Programme for Government appears to be little more than an “unconvincing marketing exercise” for the Executive.
“To paraphrase Samuel Johnson’s famous phrase, after six months of stalling, the Programme for Government may not be done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all”, Irwin observed.
“Ultimately, though, the people of Northern Ireland will want to know why they’ve waited so long for such a flimsy document, much of which consists of previous announcements repackaged.”
“We’ll examine it closely in the days to come and we’ll want to see how effectively it is delivered, but, on first inspection, it certainly appears to be long on vague promises and short on precise detail of how they can be delivered, or how the money will be found to pay for them.”
“It’s telling that the newly appointed chairman of Invest NI, Mark Ennis, has already cast doubt on the PfG’s job creation target, describing it as ‘a headline’. Whether we’re talking about vague promises of professional golf tournaments or a continued freeze in water charges, the programme is all about creating headlines, rather than putting forward concrete proposals about growing the economy or explanations of which services are likely to be cut to pay for other projects. The Executive says that its priority is the economy, yet where are the plans to cut bureaucracy and regulation, to take just one glaring example?”
“There are some welcome initiatives. The £50 million liquidity fund could provide some relief for credit starved businesses, if it is implemented properly. Likewise, investing in double-glazing for social housing may pay dividends by alleviating fuel poverty and improving the existing housing stock.”
“In the main, though, the document appears to be window dressing which doesn’t deal with the big issues. How do we create jobs, grow the economy or deliver better services for less? How do we build a genuinely shared future? The Programme for Government doesn’t seem to offer any answers. It’s disappointing that, in the Executive’s second consecutive term it is still ducking the important questions and concentrating on marketing and fluff”.