Hospital parking saga more evidence Stormont can't live within its means - despite 'generous' funding - TUV
A decision to stall the introduction of free car parking at Northern Ireland’s hospitals is another example of Stormont’s “massive mismanagement” of public money, a TUV MLA has said.
Timothy Gaston was reacting to the news that Mike Nesbitt is seeking to push back the scheme for the third time since the Assembly passed a law on the matter.
The health minister said he had made the move “in the context of the severe HSC financial pressures and to ensure prioritisation of funding for frontline services”.
The decision was backed by the DUP, whose health spokesperson Diane Dodds said that politicians need to be honest about the pressures facing the NHS – arguing the money would be better invested in life-saving treatments.
Now, Mr Gaston says the free car parking law – one of several rushed through at the tail end of the last Assembly mandate – “wasn’t given proper scrutiny” and it is unsurprising that Stormont hasn’t been able to implement it.
The TUV MLA told the News Letter: “One of the things which needs to be highlighted both in relation to this matter and Stormont generally is the massive mismanagement of public money. As I highlighted during the Budget debate on Tuesday, when one looks at the block grant it works out at roughly £17,000 for every man, woman and child in Northern Ireland.
“That is a massive amount of public expenditure and yet Stormont parties continue to plead poverty when it comes to the issues with public services.
“When Stormont cannot live within its means when given such a generous level of funding - equivalent to over 120% for the spend per head in Northern Ireland - there should be no reason why the services provided shouldn't at least match those in the rest of the UK.
“Yet the truth is that whether it comes to hospital car parking charges or a roads minister who, as the estimates this week showed, handed back £134 million in unspent capital money while every road in the country is catered with potholes, Stormont isn't delivering”.
The free car parking law was brought in by MLAs ahead of the collapse of Stormont in 2022, one of a number of pieces of Assembly legislation which critics described as populist and not costed. The Sinn Fein MLA behind it said it would “reduce the burden on patients and visitors” – and reduce pressures on staff.