Stability at Stormont now the main objective and ‘urgently needed’ – The Irish Times

The Northern Ireland Assembly established under the Belfast Agreement celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. It’s difficult to give it a single review rating, as the changes have been overwhelmingly positive and fraught with frustration.

Although it may be difficult, if not impossible, to reduce the results of the Assembly and the Executive to a single level or score, it is also true that it may not be the most important thing.

Peace has been established and public opinion still supports political institutions. What matters most is learning the lessons of the last quarter of a century and using them to build a better Northern Ireland, now.

December 1999 was a time of great hope, just 18 months after the historic referendum on the deal. There was an enthusiasm for constructive politics, with local ministers making local decisions rather than governing directly from London.

However, as we all know, the reality is one of phased government, with Stormont suspended or absent for more than 40 per cent of the time since 1999 – including five of the last eight years.

Power-sharing between parties that have wildly different views on many social and economic issues has, unsurprisingly, proven very difficult to maintain. Whether intended or not, the Belfast Accords have a built-in veto which means either of the two larger parties can stop the institutions from functioning at any time. With many delicate and controversial issues to resolve over the years – not limited to culture, heritage or constitutional question – the threat of collapse has never been far away.

Decentralization has sometimes worked well. The most effective period was probably 2007-2011, beginning with the unlikely partnership between Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as first and deputy prime minister and continuing when Peter Robinson took over from Paisley in 2008. The key to this success was good leadership. The leaders of the DUP and Sinn Féin brought their parties with them, developed and maintained personal relationships between the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and sowed seeds of trust. Equally important was a commitment to maintaining institutions and a commercial approach to continuing the work of improving public services for people across Northern Ireland.

Has Stormont delivered any real benefits to the people of Northern Ireland? The devolution of judicial powers in 2010, including cross-community support for policing, was an important step that would have been difficult to envisage ten years earlier. In general, however, it is difficult to find great examples where the Assembly or the Executive makes a significant difference in people’s lives. Thriving sectors of the economy have been supported, for example financial technology, cybersecurity, film production and tourism. Northern Ireland has the greatest access to fiber broadband of any region in the UK. Some mitigation measures from UK welfare reforms have offered greater protection to those on the lowest incomes in NI.

Perhaps the greatest achievement is that Northern Ireland parties have managed to secure additional funding from the UK government, but often these successes themselves have only been achieved in response to local failures , including various political collapses or examples of institutional collapse.

An unstable and fragile government does not guarantee good administration. Political conflicts have often swallowed up the time and capacity to debate and develop policies on everyday issues such as health, employment and education. Parties have struggled to work with a common goal, with d’Hondt’s method of assigning departments to ministers from different parties creating a siled approach that undermines the ultimate goal of a united executive.

The fragility of institutions means that decision-making rarely goes beyond addressing immediate problems. Long-term planning has been abandoned and, unfortunately, we are now reaping the rewards of this lack of strategic thinking, particularly with housing shortages, environmental crises and infrastructure problems.

More importantly, politicians avoided unpopular choices. Chief among these issues is the long-overdue reform of the health service, recommended by several independent reports dating back to 2011.

With the return of the executive since February, there is reason to hope. Institutions are functioning again – but mere functionality is of course not enough. The Prime and Deputy Prime Minister have established a good working relationship and present a strong united front. They seem determined to continue their work without threatening to collapse. Only time will tell if this will remain the case as the inevitable political crises emerge.

The executive approved a budget for this year and agreed on a legislative programme. The government’s draft program published in September sets out nine common priorities, including reducing healthcare waiting lists, more affordable childcare, a competitive and sustainable economy and ending violence against women and girls. Although these elements may seem fundamental for any government, they represent important progress for the Executive given its recent absences and failure to reach an agreement.

The key to making this work and creating a Stormont that can best meet the needs of the people of Northern Ireland is to avoid the mistakes of the last quarter of a century.

What we desperately need now is a period of stability, in which ministers and MPs have the time and space to find solutions to a long list of pressing challenges. Northern Ireland has, by far, the worst healthcare waiting lists in the UK, low productivity and skills, high economic inactivity, numerous environmental crises and water treatment infrastructure waste which prevents the development of new housing in many regions. Housing itself often remains divided along community lines, and schooling is also highly segregated. We need ambitious and realistic plans that offer solutions to these and other problems.

Decentralization is a work in progress. The institutions of the Belfast Agreement were hard-won and remain fragile. Leaders must move forward courageously on behalf of all the people of Northern Ireland, as they did in 1998. Relationships and trust must be built and maintained. There must be a total commitment to the continued functioning of institutions, rather than the chaos that results from threats of collapse. Most importantly, we need continued attention from all parties to improve the big issues that affect people’s daily lives, like health services, good jobs, schools and the environment.

• Ann Watt is director of Pivotal, the independent think tank focused on Northern Ireland