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They say a week is a long time in politics, but at Stormont, 18 months apparently isn’t long enough to get anything done properly.
As the Assembly packs up for its summer recess, the hills of Castlereagh echo with the sound of self-congratulation, vague promises and the gentle rustling of unread legislative drafts. This was meant to be the grand comeback tour of devolved government. After two years of political limbo, power-sharing returned in February 2024 with great fanfare and some suspiciously photogenic trips to GAA clubs.
Yet, as MLAs decamp for their summer holidays, one can’t help but wonder what exactly they are taking a break from.
This was supposed to be the term that proved Stormont could work, that government here could rise above petty squabbles and make measurable change. Instead, we’ve had a legislative record that resembles a tumbleweed in the Great Hall. The Executive originally promised 18 bills by the end of 2024. That target has aged about as well as the plan to tackle the algae at Lough Neagh.
Speaker Edwin Poots (yes, he’s still in the chair, and increasingly sounding like a headmaster who’s lost control of Year 10) has warned that time is now dangerously tight. In a letter this week, he essentially told MLA s to cut their ambitions in half. If your pet Member’s Bill hasn’t made it out of consultation yet, best file it under “maybe next mandate”.
But that assumes, of course, that legislation is the point of the Assembly. A charitable view might be that this Executive is less interested in law-making and more focused on delivery. Except… well… that’s not going brilliantly either.
Take the SDLP ‘s list of gripes, for example. The A5 upgrade remains mired in bureaucratic bog; Casement Park is still a ghost stadium haunting both governments’ chequebooks; Lough Neagh is now better known for algae than angling. The Executive set a target for new social housing and then promptly missed it. Progress on hospital waiting lists? Let’s just say you’ll be waiting a while longer, and if you have a child with special needs who is waiting on a school place, well, you might need to take a trip over to Wimbledon’s Centre Court before you get any answers from the EA’s Chief Executive.
Even Michelle O’Neill ‘s biggest cheerleaders would struggle to argue this was a term of meaningful transformation. Her opposite number, Matthew O’Toole, couldn’t resist twisting the knife in the final Assembly questions session, quipping that if the government in Dublin had a record this poor, Sinn Féin would be “roasting them alive”.
And yet, it’s not all bad. Credit where due, Stormont did move forward on tackling violence against women and girls, securing some genuine cross-party buy-in and investment. The response to Storm Eowyn earlier this year showed that, in an emergency, at least, ministers can play nicely with each other. There are glimmers of functionality.
But let’s not overstate it. Those are flashes in a much dimmer reality. On the big issues of housing, health, infrastructure and education, we’ve had more press releases than progress. The Programme for Government took seven months just to be published in draft form, and still reads more like a PowerPoint than a plan. At one point, we were told Storm Eowyn had delayed its publication, which may be the first time the weather has been blamed for policy failure.
The Communities Minister’s long-awaited draft Anti-Poverty Strategy landed with a thud rather than a fanfare and was swiftly dismissed by almost every other party and stakeholder with a stake in tackling deprivation. Critics have condemned the document as vague, underpowered, and lacking both ambition and measurable outcomes. Rather than a bold plan to address spiralling inequality, the draft reads more like a box-ticking exercise designed to meet a statutory obligation rather than transform lives. For a region where one in four children still lives in poverty, many had hoped for something closer to a lifeline and what they got instead felt more like a shrug.
And looming behind it all, of course, is Brexit. The Windsor Framework lingers like an awkward guest at a dinner party. Everyone’s pretending it’s fine, but no one wants to talk about it. The DUP’s much-hyped “Stormont Brake” on EU rules was tested once and promptly failed, with London politely informing them they’d pulled the wrong lever.
It’s easy to be cynical; Northern Irish politics practically begs for it. But cynicism is not the same as apathy. People here still want government to work. They still want better hospitals, functioning schools, clean water, homes they can afford, and political leaders who do more than show up for photo ops. In that context, the current level of delivery isn’t just disappointing. It’s insulting.
Stormont isn’t dead, but it is deeply underwhelming. For all the fresh starts and symbolic milestones, the question remains: Do our leaders have the courage, focus, and discipline to do more than survive?
The Assembly returns in September with just 18 months left before the next election. The clock is ticking. Maybe, just maybe, this summer break could serve as a reset. Let’s hope our MLAs come back refreshed, not just rested, and ready to prove that this place is capable of more than just promises and posturing.
Because, as any teacher will tell you, when the report card says “must try harder,” it’s not a compliment.
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