A Northern Ireland Public Service union has warned of “profound consequences” after the United Kingdom Government tabled a Budget for the Province that could require 10 per cent cuts to Departmental spending while leaving officials to make those decisions.
Public Servants have been effectively running the Province without political leadership since the collapse of the power-sharing Executive last year.
In March, the FDA union urged Northern Ireland Secretary at Westminster, Chris Heaton-Harris to enact a law change that would allow UK Ministers to give formal directions to the Province’s Public Servants, providing political legitimacy to choices about budget cuts.
However, Mr Heaton-Harris has refused to go down that path, simply setting a Budget for Northern Ireland, and in effect telling officials to sort it out.
The Budget provides £14.2 billion ($A26.4 billion) for services, with more than half of that figure earmarked for health.
Commentators agree the figures imply significant spending cuts for other Departmental areas.
National FDA Officer for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Allan Sampson said it was wrong to put unelected officials in the position of having to make choices over how to implement cuts that would have a significant impact.
“There’s an expectation that Departments could be looking at cuts of around 10 per cent,” Mr Sampson said.
“If so, that is likely to have profound consequences for the delivery of public services in Northern Ireland.”
He said incredibly difficult decisions would have to be made by Public Servants “which is unfair to them and to the people of Northern Ireland who have a right to expect that democratically-elected politicians would take such decisions”.
Meanwhile, the head of the Northern Ireland Public Service, Jayne Brady (pictured) has told the UK Parliament’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that in view of the Budget it would be “extremely challenging” for her officials to retain Public Service pay parity with the UK.
Belfast, 6 May 2023
