NORTHERN IRELAND
A Government run by Public Servants with no Executive sitting at Stormont could become the “new normal” for the Province, citizens have been warned.
Senior Public Servants have been running day-to-day Departmental business since the collapse of the Executive more than two years ago. However major policy decisions can be made only by elected Ministers.
Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Head of the Public Service in Northern Ireland, David Sterling said the situation could not be allowed to go on for much longer.
“My concern would be that in the ongoing absence of Ministers, people would get used to this, they will think it’s okay when it isn’t and there’s a risk that this could become the new normal — and that would not be good,” Mr Sterling said.
In the absence of an Executive, the authority of Public Servants to make decisions normally reserved for Ministers has been challenged, most notably by a High Court judge in relation to a proposed waste facility in Antrim.
Mr Sterling said that a “major transformation” was needed in various sectors across Northern Ireland, such as health care, where a major challenge had been rising hospital waiting times.
“We haven’t had a cliff edge moment where public services have collapsed, if you like, but what we have seen is a slow decay and stagnation in our public services,” he said.
Mr Sterling also said changes to the education system were needed. However, because decisions in the sector were “sensitive politically”, it was “only right that those difficult decisions are taken by democratically elected and accountable Ministers”.
He also had dire warnings for housing in Northern Ireland, stating that if issues were not addressed some of the Province’s social housing stock might need to be mothballed.
Belfast, 15 February, 2019
