The SDLP's Leader of the Opposition has said that the public expect more from their MLAs that just "turning up". Matthew O'Toole was speaking to Belfast Live ahead of the first anniversary of the return of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Stormont institutions returned at a special sitting of the Assembly on Saturday, 3 February 2024. One year on, Matthew O'Toole has been reflecting on what the Executive parties have achieved and what they could do better.
Upon taking up the role of Leader of the Opposition last year, Matthew said that he hoped that they would be a "constructive" opposition but speaking to us one year on, he said that being constructive doesn't mean giving ministers a "pass" for "lack of delivery".
"I think we've been very constructive.Constructive means recognising the limitations that are placed on the Executive.We're a devolved jurisdiction, so we don't have complete control over fiscal and financial matters, and it's a mandatory coalition.We acknowledge those limitations," he said.
"We also acknowledge when the Executive gets things right, there's been a positive tone at different points, particularly between the First and deputy First Minister.They've made some progress on issues like childcare.So there has been a constructive approach from us and we've been consistent with that.
"But constructive doesn't mean giving a pass for lack of delivery.It doesn't mean sitting there while the Executive marks time and expects to be garlanded and cheerleadered for simply showing up.We need delivery and we need accountability for lack of delivery, and so we will continue to be constructive, but we'll also be robust and fearless in calling them out when they don't deliver."
Matthew O'Toole said that it is important that there is a "positive" tone at Stormont and praised the "courteous" relationship between Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little Pengelly.
Mr O'Toole acknowledged that there has been progress in some areas but added that it is hard to point to "substantive progress" overall.
"I think there's been some progress in childcare that's material for parents.I would acknowledge that.I think though, It's genuinely hard to point to substantive progress in very many other areas, and that's not me being churlish or uncharitable.That's me being serious and doing my job as Leader of the Opposition.
"If you look at, for example, the health service.Not only are waiting lists going in the wrong direction still, so they're still increasing and crisis in EDs is worse now than it was before when we didn't have an Executive.It's not clear that there's a plan with meaningful targets or clear interventions to deal with it.That's really important.
"The public did not expect that the health service would be sorted out by now.That would have been mad.No one thought that.But they did expect to see a clear plan.They expected the Health Minister, but also not just the Health Minister, the First and deputy First Minister and the Finance Minister to have worked together on a resourced plan and gone out to the public and said, This is what we're going to do. These are the decisions we are making and if some of those are decisions that are difficult in certain areas, then they own them collectively and they explain what the greater good is, i.e. a health service that is reformed and better able to meet the needs of our population.None of that has happened, none of it."
Matthew O'Toole hit out at the lack of clarity and "long, waffly, descriptive statements" from ministers. He also questioned the lack of targets of "specific interventions" in the draft Programme for Government.
"The draft government did take a long time when it did come; I don't think anyone could say that it was particularly specific and precise in terms of its targets and its interventions. There were a large number, I think by my recollection nine priorities.Many of those priorities weren't particularly clear priorities in themselves.They were quite generic.
"The fact that it took so long to get that document in the first place was not particularly impressive.If you look at what's happened south of the border, they produced a Programme for Government with significantly more clarity than ours in the space of a couple of weeks, basically between an election and the sitting of the new Dail.
"It shouldn't be impossible for us to do that up here, particularly when it's known what the crises are and what the key priorities are.I think the public would benefit, and this was reflected in a report from a think tank earlier this week. To see just a clear, limited set of priorities, a to-do list. That's not an unreasonable thing to ask.And if it's short, that should be a reflection of the fact that there's a limited window to the next election, and there are limitations."
Reflecting on the amount of Executive business coming before the Assembly, Matthew O'Toole said that the number of non-binding motions was "demeaning Stormont".
"I think we've been debating endless executive party motions about everything under the sun, and some of them are really important and worthy topics.I'm not trying to diminish the importance of those topics, but what I actually think is that, in many cases, we are trivialising those topics by passing motions that have no binding effect, and the people who are passing them are the people who have the power to do something about them.I think that jeopardises trust in democracy and politics.
"Last week in the Assembly, we were debating the legitimate subject of nappy disposal and recycling.I'm not dismissing that as a subject.It is important as a father of young kids.it's an important subject and it's important in terms of waste management.I don't think the public out there thinks that the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly should be devoting significant time to debating the niceties of this. It is certainly something that should be studied in committees, but I don't think it's necessarily worthy of significant Stormont time.
"Another example is that the First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, in the last couple of weeks, put up on social media and pointed to the fact that Sinn Fein on a private member's basis, not as not in an Executive context, was moving a motion on special educational services. Now, it's a really important subject, and it's something that is really important to parents whose children have autism or other additional needs.
"But the problem is, the First Minister is the head of government.She leads a government which has the power to legislate or to implement specific spending plans to deal with the issues that were in a private member's motion.A member of the public might see that and think, oh, The First Minister saying that something's happening in Stormont about special educational needs, that must mean that there's going to be a law passed or something that could directly impact my child or my family, but it was a non-binding motion."
Matthew O'Toole said that the Executive have an opportunity to "rebuild trust" in politics here but said that just turning up at Stormont wasn't enough.
"We're approaching a time of year when lots of people in their jobs will be talking to their managers about their end-of-year appraisal, and they'll have to sit down with their boss, and the boss will probably ask them, what have you achieved in the past year. Well, if they said to their boss, I've turned up, I've been here,, which is effectively what the executive is asking credit for. The boss might say, really?Is that it?
"Turning up isn't enough, being there and marking time isn't enough that people of Northern Ireland expect.More than that, they gave these parties a mandate to govern and to make decisions.They have to make decisions.
"People did not expect miracles, but they did expect clear choices to be made at the minute they aren't making really any choices at all of any seriousness to deal with, for example, the crisis in health service in the health service or the lack of investment in our water infrastructure.Those are areas where they can take action."
Reflecting once again on their role in opposition, Matthew O'Toole said that the SDLP "haven't just opposed".
"We've put down a series of our own suggested policy alternatives.We've encouraged the executive, not simply to mark time, but to take decisions and where they do take decisions and where they are courageous and where they do set clear priorities and deliver on them, we'll acknowledge that.
"I think people want that from a constructive opposition.I think people really welcome our contribution over the past year.I think they see it as a step change in terms of accountability and democracy in Northern Ireland.We're going to continue that work.
"I think it's a really valuable step change in our politics, frankly, because some of the big parties have got used for a long time to a politics of spectacle of falling in and falling out and having being garlanded for simply tolerating one another, smiling for the cameras, and then having a sham fight when it suits them, one or both of them politically.Those days have to be gone now.The crisis in our public services is too serious, and we're 26 or 27 years on from the Good Friday Agreement.
"It's now not acceptable for the parties that run the executive to simply think they can get by on photo ops, and then when it suits them, sham fights and fallings out.They need to deliver.They need clear plans to rescue public services, and they need to deliver on them and as a constructive but robust opposition, we are going to be there as we have been for the past year, holding them to account and pressing them on behalf of the public who deserve better."
Video by Harry Bateman/Belfast Live
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