Executive ‘allergic to responsibility’, SDLP leader says

The Northern Ireland Executive is “allergic to responsibility”, the leader of the SDLP has said.

Claire Hanna said that confidence in Northern Ireland politics is draining as she warned that the Executive “never seems far from collapse”.

Speaking at the SDLP annual conference at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Belfast on Saturday, she said the Executive – which includes Sinn Fein, the DUP, Alliance and the UUP – “kicks big decisions into the long grass”.

She said the parties were “in Government”, but questioned if they were “truly in power”.

“Two big parties with neither in the driving seat, allergic to responsibility. And a third, along for the ride, no matter the destination.

“They have the tools, but not the will to use them.”

Ms Hanna also set out a “hopeful and ambitious vision for the future”, saying her party was focused on delivering effective opposition.

She said the SDLP was in a new phase and was ready to seek out new members and candidates who would be “fresh voices” to represent their communities in councils.

Ms Hanna said politics in Northern Ireland “holds our people back”.

She said: “Successes are in spite of government – certainly not because of it.

“Yes, we have peace – but we don’t have reconciliation. Yes, we have equality in law – but not all have the chance to succeed.

“Yes, we have North-South structures – that are just going through the motions. Yes, we have power shared out – but no-one can call it good government.

“The result? Marathon waiting lists, a housing crisis, public services people can no longer rely on.

“Our most precious natural resource – polluted. A home for the GAA in Ulster – unbuilt. A safe A5 – stalled.”

Ms Hanna said that, by all meaningful metrics, children born in Northern Ireland will have worse outcomes than a child born in Dublin, London or Edinburgh but added: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

She said the SDLP “would fight for opportunities for everyone” including good jobs, affordable childcare, and access to health services.

SDLP’s leader of the opposition in Stormont, Matthew O’Toole, also said the “brutal unavoidable truth” is that the Executive is “comatose”.

He said the SDLP’s participation in an Executive should be contingent on clear commitments to reform.

“We can’t give cover to an unreformed, broken Stormont system,” he added.

Ms Hanna also outlined how the party would work to progress a “new Ireland” that would be a “brand-new nation”.

She set out a vision of a social democracy “with public wealth and not just private”.

And she said there was a time to have a conversation about the future of the island as she criticised a “political Hotel California where the past is ever present, and the future never arrives”.

Ms Hanna also said Governments in London and Dublin need to begin “real planning”.

“This means a challenge, especially to the government in the south.

“The shifting nature of politics means they cannot afford to be caught off-guard. They can’t keep denying responsibility for planning for constitutional change.

“We’re not just a peace project to be managed and soothed.”

She added: “Many across this island are looking to Dublin for leadership that they have yet to provide.

“This is not about an arbitrary deadline for a border poll. It never has been for this party.

“But it is about doing the work, the how and the why – so that when the time does come, we are prepared.”

Meanwhile, leader of the Irish Labour party Ivana Bacik also attended the conference.

She said: “Like our sister Party the SDLP, we share a strong commitment to the achievement of a social Europe and a recognition of the vital importance of the European project and the EU to the future of this island.

“We in Labour stand for a real republic across the island – one which values equality and redistribution.

“More than semantics, we must see beyond sectarianism and realise that true equality is based on pluralism.”

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was also among attendees.