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Eamon Martin has joined fellow church leaders in calling for the urgent restoration of good governance noting normal services are close to ‘breaking point’ and ‘despair’ is rising.

Archbishop Martin took part in meetings with the five main political parties alongside other members of the Church Leaders Group at Assembly Buildings recently.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the Church of Ireland, the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church, and Irish Council of Churches said: “During the meetings we highlighted the feedback coming to us from communities across Northern Ireland regarding the seriousness of the current situation – indicating the real and sustained financial hardship that is being experienced by many people, combined with the everyday reality that many of the normal services that society depends upon were close to breaking point.

"We also indicated to the party leaders that this was leading to a rising sense of despair, and even hopelessness throughout the community, linked to a growing anger at the current poor state of governance.”

The Church Leaders Group (Ireland) Left to right: Archbishop Eamon Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, President of the Irish Council of Churches, Archbishop John McDowell, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, Rt Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and Rev David Turtle, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland.]

The Church Leaders said they ‘discussed the urgent need for the restoration of Northern Ireland’s devolved government’ with all of the parties acknowledging this ‘wouldn’t be a panacea for all problems’ but an ‘important first step’ and ‘if properly resourced by the UK government, would make a real and meaningful difference to the everyday lives of people’.

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During the meetings, the Church and Party Leaders also discussed the significant budgetary pressures being faced by all departments.

It was noted that the North was ‘being underfunded by the UK government, and there was a necessity to move to a more equitable needs-based funding model, as indicated in recent reports of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council’.

The Church Leaders Group called on all political parties to reach accommodations for the common good and for the UK government urgently to take all necessary steps to facilitate the restoration of good governance in the north.

The UK government needs to urgently taking all steps possible to meet the outstanding concerns of all political parties, so that each will feel able to return to the devolved institutions and providing the funding necessary to meet immediate budgetary pressures, while putting in place a more equitable needs-based funding model going into the future, they said.

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