Lack of Stormont budget 'a disaster' for community sector workers and projects warns Derry Councillor

Members of July’s Health and Community Committee were asked to approve interim Department for Communities (DfC) funding to cover the district’s Community Development Programme Areas for three months.

Programme areas include Community Support salary costs, Grant Aid, Advice Services, Social Supermarket, Neighbourhood Renewal, and Community Centre costs.

In June, council received a letter from DfC, which stated: “In the absence of an agreed Executive Budget for 2026-27, the Department is issuing a further interim Resource DEL allocation for Quarter 2 to support the continuation of Services”.

An officers' report noted that while the letter will allow for the continued delivery of the key community development programmes up until September 30, the uncertainty around budget and the absence of a Letter of Offer remains a “concern and a challenge”.

People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin said Stormont's failure to pass a budget was having “real-life consequences for workers on the ground”.

“It's just a disaster,” he said. “They've headed off to recess, I think the only thing that was passed over the last six months was a 27 per cent pay increase for MLAs, and here we have now workers on the ground, delivering vital services, who don't know if they're going to have a job from the end of the summer.

“Our government is failing us, we can sit in here and talk about it and we seem to do that year in, year out, but a lot of people are really wondering now- 'Is there any point to Stormont?'”

"What is the point if it can't even deliver a budget that gives people a bit of security that their jobs are going to be delivered and services are going to be in place?”

In response Sinn Féin councillor Paul Boggs said all parties within the Executive “would like to see a budget”, but the failure to agree one “lies solely at the feet of the British Government”.

He accused councillor Harkin of “jumping” on workers’ backs in order to score political points.

“I would like to know what Councillor Harkin would think if we were waiting on Labour, Tory, or possibly Reform ministers making decisions for the people here,” he added.

“We would absolutely love to see an agreed multi-year budget. I would really implore people on such a sensitive issue to not use workers and families for political point scoring against the Stormont Executive.

“As far from perfect as it is, and I can say that as somebody whose party is leading the Stormont Executive, do not use such a sensitive issue as this to try and score political points, because it is absolutely ridiculous.

“If somebody wants to pose the question 'what is the point of Stormont?', I'd like their analysis of what and where we would get if we were relying on British Government ministers to make decisions solely for this place, and have no intervention from the Executive.”

SDLP councillor Brian Tierney said that the Executive “cannot wash their hands when things are going wrong”, while councillor Harkin argued that it was “not ridiculous to criticise Stormont”.

“Stormont is failing, I have a mandate to come in here and criticise what the main parties are doing, that's why people elect People Before Profit representatives,” he said. “So of course we're going to be critical when the government here doesn't pass a budget and leaves people with uncertainty over the summer.

“Sinn Féin has been as critical as I have of what Ulster University has done, giving people uncertainly because of redundancy threats. Sinn Féin are quick to criticise the DUP about the impact on families and workers whenever it suits them, so you can't have it both ways.

"It's not about Westminster, it's about Stormont failing to deliver anything [while] the community sector are faced with uncertainty.

"It's not ridiculous to criticise the Stormont Executive. What's ridiculous is that the Stormont Executive awarded itself a 27 [percent] pay increase and you've got this situation now with people in three-month contracts.”