Letter: Stormont must be held to account for its failures - we need a few brave politicians to push boundaries

It’s true that the Northern Ireland Act binds us into the power-sharing structures, for very good reasons, but these same structures make it easy for astute politicians to hide behind them when it comes to making difficult or unpopular decisions.

Media commentators often deride the ineffectiveness or inability of Stormont’s politicians but often fail to identify those actually responsible for these failures.

We are all so terribly polite in Northern Ireland, grouping all of Stormont's politicians together as if it’s a group effort of failure but, in reality, only a very small number of senior politicians at Stormont control the agenda and policy.

Whether it is upgrading our wastewater infrastructure or critical NHS reforms, they are incapable of taking difficult decisions.

As the saying goes, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

It is true that a strong electoral mandate gives most politicians a choice as to whether to be a part of the Northern Ireland Executive or the opposition, but when they produce a draft programme for government which is, at best, a hopeful wish list containing no deadlines, timescales, milestones or principled direction, then it is incumbent on individual politicians to speak out on the issues that really matter.

We therefore need a few brave politicians to push a few boundaries and take a principled stand in the executive against the populist agenda.

If we are to arrest the inevitable decline in our public services and the economy, then there needs to be more accountability. It is time to ‘name and shame’.

Brian Pope, chartered civil engineer and former councillor, Banbridge