John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When the Stormont Executive collapsed during September, leading to a further round of talks aimed at resolving the regular political crisis in the North, it led to the suspension of the Northern Irish Government due to allegations made about Sinn Féin and the DUP. Overshadowing the collapse were demands by the UK Conservative Government that the Executive introduce major changes to social welfare provision. This latest deal has been openly criticised by the Green Party, the SDLP and independents. Much clarification is needed on the deal, given the amount of money that is supposed to be there for compensation, which I believe is very dubious and needs to be clarified before the deal should even be signed.

Fundamental change in the structures of Northern Ireland is needed to deal with these episodic crises. I have always said the current model of devolution has failed to realise the ambitions of the Good Friday Agreement. It has also failed to bring about the political, social and economic changes which have been demanded by the very many people affected by austerity. If we are to avoid the cycle of crisis, a radical change is required including - something the Government has not spoken about - the introduction of a formal opposition, with the parties with the most seats forming the Executive. Incredibly, we still designate MLAs as Unionists and Nationalists. This should be abolished and done away with.

The reality is the Executive is implementing a home-grown austerity programme in the form of the Stormont House Agreement. A total of 20,000 jobs will be stripped from the public service. The Executive has borrowed approximately £750 million to fund these redundancies. Another issue which is not being spoken about much is the sale of profitable state assets such as the Belfast Harbour Estate and Translink. Anybody who believes in a socialist ethic cannot believe we would agree to the privatisation of the Belfast Harbour Estate or Translink. A central plank of the Stormont House Agreement, and its only economic strategy, is the lowering of corporation tax, which is incredible in the sense it will cost between £350 million and £500 million. If this bright idea were scrapped for starters, we would probably not have to speak about social welfare cuts. We should not be surprised that sectarianism still exists when we have not got beyond the narrow margins or confines of-----

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