Finance minister confident on multi-year budget

Stormont's finance minister has said he is confident the Executive will agree a multi-year budget before the end of this year.

Asked by the chair of the finance committee if he was planning for an alternative scenario, Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said: "I'm only planning for success."

Ministers have failed to agree a multi-year budget since 2011.

In 2021 the then Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy published a multi-year budget but other parties refused to back it with the result it was replaced by a single year one.

There has been speculation the Executive might meet on the issue next week.

Asked by finance committee chair Matthew O'Toole of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) if it was safe to assume a multi-year budget would not be agreed this year O'Dowd said: "I don't think we can agree that yet."

He added: "I'm reasonably confident we can make progress between now and the Christmas break.....five to twelve on Christmas Eve....that we can deliver a multi-year budget before the New Year and the Christmas break.

"On a scale of one to ten am I confident there's going to be a multi-year budget I would put it at ten."

O'Toole replied: "I'm glad to hear that. I won't be a dark cloud about that if it happens."

O'Dowd also told the committee he believed all the parties around the Executive table could "see the benefits of a multi-year budget".

He added: "There's going to be a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and engagement, negotiation around the elements of that multi-year budget but I think all parties want to see a multi-year budget and remain focussed on that."

A multi-year budget would allow departments to plan day-to-day spending better over the next three years.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Paul Givan is seeking executive approval to overspend his budget to help fund a pay rise for teachers in Northern Ireland this year.

On Wednesday, he confirmed he intends to issue what is known as a ministerial direction, as his department is dealing with a significant "funding shortfall".

His department received £25.6m in Tuesday's reallocation of unspent Stormont funds.

It had requested £37m to deal with teachers' pay awards.

Ministerial directions are formal instructions from ministers directing their permanent secretary to proceed, despite objections, with a spending plan.

Givan said after Tuesday's monitoring round, his department is still looking at a deficit of some £267m in this financial year.

"My department and the Education Authority will, of course, continue to drive this down for the remainder of this financial year," he said.

"Further engagement with the teaching unions will take place when this process is complete and the outcome is known."

The minister said his decision to take forward the ministerial direction underscored his "commitment to Northern Ireland's teaching professionals and the children, young people and school communities they serve".

In May, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt signed off on pay awards for healthcare staff, but as he did not have enough money in his budget, a ministerial direction went to the executive for approval to allow him to proceed anyway.

Givan also spoke about the pressures on his department's capital budget, which is money allocated for long-term projects and investment for buildings.

He said the issue had been brought into "clear focus" by the recent emergency closure of Nazareth House Primary School in Londonderry, due to safety issues with its roof.

Givan said it "reinforces the case for a significantly increased and sustained capital budget to meet the needs of our ageing schools' estate".