Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to recognise that the agreement lays down a demanding financial template for all the parties and people in Northern Ireland. We have sought here again and again, the Labour Party and Government, to ensure that the people who are most vulnerable, particularly in regard to social welfare and their weekly payments, have been protected, and that has been a very difficult thing to do. I know how difficult these financial adjustments are and that is definitely going to face the parties in Northern Ireland.

The Irish Government was not party to this part of the negotiations as they are an internal Northern Ireland matter, and we do not yet know the full details of where some of the reductions and the axe might fall. However, we do know from the global figures that its impact may be severe. We know there are proposals in regard to education funding, spending on vital services in the Department of the Environment, and potentially a reduction of up to 10% in the budget of the Northern Ireland Department of Social Development. Families, schoolchildren, and jobseekers will probably be impacted. Further, the statement this week by the North's Minister for Finance and Personnel, Mr. Simon Hamilton, that there will be 20,000 public sector redundancies over the coming years demonstrates the scale of the adjustment, and indeed the scale of borrowing that is implicit in the agreement to support those adjustments. Indeed, proportionately, as Members will know, this far outweighs the reduction in public service numbers that has been implemented in the South by voluntary retirement and early retirement packages.

In conclusion, the Stormont House Agreement offers an opportunity for politics in Northern Ireland to move on. Some issues that were outstanding for many years have been resolved. More work is required on other matters. Northern Ireland also faces significant challenges in meeting all that has been laid down in the agreement. In particular, the economy has moved to the centre of the political debate, and while we have made significant progress on that front in the South, difficult days and difficult decisions lie ahead in the North. The immediate threat to the institutions in the North has been removed and there is now a basis for all parties to work together to overcome shared challenges. It is not a perfect agreement but we must move now to implement what was agreed at Stormont House, develop the North-South economy, and build a prosperous and peaceful island for people on both sides of the Border. That is the shared aspiration not just of the Labour Party but of all parties in the South.

While we have an employment challenge in the North, I am conscious that we have many similar challenges in the South. If our experience in the South can be of value in terms of implementing the agreement in the North, we will certainly be ready to offer any advice, information or experience that would be helpful as the parties and the government in the North deal with the quite difficult adjustments that have been signed up to by all the parties.

See this speech in context