Resignation of DUP first minister ‘robbed patients of three-year budget’

Paul Givan resigned, effectively forcing deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office, over the Brexit Protocol.

Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann (Peter Morrison/PA) (PA Wire)

The resignation of first minister Paul Givan has “cruelly robbed patients and staff” of a three-year Budget, the Stormont Health Minister said.

Detailing the pressures facing the health service, Robin Swann expressed his frustration at the current situation.

Northern Ireland had been due to get its first multi-year Budget in recent history.

However the resignation of Mr Givan earlier this year, a move which also removed deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office, has thrown that Budget into doubt.

The resignation came as an expression of opposition by the DUP to the Brexit Protocol.

While the Assembly is due to be dissolved later this month for fresh elections, it is unclear whether new first and deputy first ministers will be nominated following the results – with fresh talks expected to be called.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said last month that he had sought legal advice and had been told that the Budget cannot proceed in the absence of a first and deputy first minister.

Speaking during Health Minister Questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Swann described the “shameful deterioration” of hospital waiting times in recent years, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

He said a number of initiatives in his elective care framework are “well under way”, but emphasised that the certainty of investment through multi-year Budgets was critical for the framework.

“The recent resignation of the first minister, I believe, has cruelly robbed patients and our staff of the prospect of a three-year Budget,” he told MLAs.

“And I cannot emphasis how frustrated I am that some in this place are so willingly repeating the mistakes of the past.

“The task at hand has been been immeasurably more difficult.”