Stormont is in talks with the Treasury to secure a “proper financial package” for Northern Ireland.
The region’s Finance Minister John O’Dowd said the decision by the Stormont Executive last week to allocate money towards helping families struggling with rising energy costs will “place further pressures on the Executive budget”.
He said he has had two meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn over the last week, adding there is a united front from the Executive over the budget.
“I have presented two papers to the Executive in relation to the budget for the next three years, all my Executive colleagues are telling me that they can’t deliver the services that are required within the confines of that budget, we won’t be able to support the economy to the level that the economy needs supported either,” he told the BBC.
“So on behalf of the Executive, I have been engaging with the British Government over this week as have my officials…
“I am satisfied that the British Government are now listening to us but we now need to move quickly into the mode of where they giving the financial whereforall to this Executive to do the job that the Executive needs to do.”
Stormont ministers pledged £19.2 million to go with £17 million already set aside for the scheme from the UK Government.
The scheme will see up to 340,000 lower-income households receiving a £100 payment to go towards their heating oil bills.
“We are talking directly to the British Government about securing a proper financial package for the Executive to allow us to fund public services, to support our economy and see us through what is going to continue to be a significant cost of living crisis for several months if not longer,” Mr O’Dowd said.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Northern Ireland, Mr O’Dowd said that despite the financial pressure the Stormont Executive is under, they made the decision that it is “vitally important to support those families on low incomes”.
“We have received a £17 million pot from the British Government, and the decision was made collectively at the Executive that given the scale of pressures bearing down on families that we would inject a further, up towards £20 million into that fund,” he said.
“That funding will come directly from our budget allocation, there is no other separate pot where that money can from, it’s about decisions, and politics is about making decisions, and the Executive has made a decision in this instance that given the scale of pressures we will supplement that £17 million.”
Mr O’Dowd went on to say the Executive “deserves recognition” for making the decision to support families in terms of rising energy costs.
“We cannot plug every gap the British Government creates, the Executive cannot afford to bail out the British Government, that is the reality of the situation, and that’s why I’m involved in discussions with the British Government about securing a proper funding package for this place so we can support our community and voluntary sector, so we can support our public services and we can support our economy,” he said.
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