News Story

A financial offer made to Stormont ministers to assist in agreeing a budget “falls well short” of dealing with pressures in a single department, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant is meeting Stormont parties on Monday in a bid to break the long-running budget impasse.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said an agreement could only be made when it is the “right budget” and said she would “hardball” Sir Chris over a fair funding settlement.

MLAs have returned to Stormont following the summer recess.

The Northern Ireland Secretary is also meeting ministers in the Executive and parties to discuss the budget and also reform of the powersharing institutions.

Stormont ministers have insisted they cannot strike a budget without additional financial support from Westminster.

Stormont departments are currently allowed to spend up to 95% of last year’s funding in the absence of ministers agreeing the budget.

After meeting Sir Chris, Ms O’Neill said she pressed the point that the current funding model is wrong.

She said: “We’ve just come from a meeting with the Secretary of State, we’re very much focused on getting a budget, but it needs to be the right budget.

“It needs to be a budget that reflects the needs of people here.

“We’ve long made the case, and can stand over the case, that we have been underfunded our public services, our health system, our education system, our wastewater infrastructure, our roads, all the things that people deserve.

“The fault line here has always been that we’ve been underfunded.

“We continue in those discussions and they’ll carry on throughout today, and in days ahead.

“But our approach to this discussion is around a fair funding model, proper funding for our public services.”

She said: “I am going to hardball the Secretary of State, we are going to hardball the Secretary of State on a fair funding model.”

Mr Robinson said he understood that additional resource had been offered to Stormont ministers.

But he said: “It falls well short of even some of the pressures in one department, let alone across the Northern Ireland Executive.

“And anybody who stands before you today and says look, we just need to get on and agree and accept something which will not get the job done, can explain to you the cuts that will come as a consequence, the redundancies that will come as a consequence, the consequence of unfunded transformation.”

Mr Robinson added: “We’re clearly at a stage now where the Assembly is coming back with a bit of vim after the summer, but we all know that the election has arrived, and there is an important point to try and get the budget agreed for this year, and I think remove the budget as a political issue from the election.”

Asked how close the Government offer is to what is required, the DUP leader said: “From what I understand, they’re not in the right place at this stage.”