Multiples of billions of pounds needed to get Stormont back: Ian Paisley

Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said discussions were taking place with the Government to address “budgetary challenges,” while North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said it would take “multiples of billions” to get a new powersharing administration up and running.

Speaking at the launch of the Trade NI report at Westminster, Sir Jeffrey said: “We’re discussing a range of issues with the Government, not least our budgetary challenges in Northern Ireland as well as the need to address the problems created by the protocol and where we feel the Windsor Framework falls short of providing that solution.

“As to quantum (for a financial package for Northern Ireland) there is nothing clear at this stage but I think what is evident from the Treasury is that they want to see proposals from Northern Ireland about invest to reform our public services as well as giving us the extra funding we need to deliver for those public services.

“The Government knows what is needed and I believe the Government will bring forward what is required.”

The powersharing executive collapsed in February 2022 when the DUP resigned in protest at the post-Brexit trading arrangements negotiated between the EU and UK Government.

The party believes the NI Protocol creates a permanent trade border between NI and GB, undermining Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson also said he expects the Government to bring forward legislation to address unionist concerns around the protocol.He said: “We are developing a range of proposals for the Government, they are aware of the outline of what it is we need.

“It’s not just for the DUP, it’s for Northern Ireland, we need to ensure that when Stormont is restored it can deliver, that the foundations are solid and that the Assembly and Executive is sustainable. That’s what I’m in the business of delivering.”

Meanwhile, Ia Paisley has questioned why any elected representative would want to take charge of a Stormont department if there was no money or resources “to make government work.”

​The MP for North Antrim, has also accused the government of using “blackmail tactics” in an effort to have the DUP return to Stormont.

"I think that anyone who as looked at the current blackmail tactics by the government, which we have an almost daily menu served up to us that everything is a crisis because of the DUP's current policy, and the budgetary crisis for Northern Ireland, that if suddenly there was a magic wand waved and the assembly was restored that budget crisis would go away,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show.

"We are saying that that budget crisis is there – it remains whether there is an assembly or not – so instead of a government department issuing a press release saying that they are having to cut X, Y or Z, you would actually have a Northern Ireland elected minister saying 'I have no money left in the kitty,'.

"So we are saying, why on earth would any government minister, or any political party in Northern Ireland, genuinely be motivated to setting up an assembly or being in government if they don't have the money or the resources to make government work.”

Mr Paisley added: "So any financial package, would be in my view, multiples of billions of pounds. Take the water service alone... it would probably cost about one and a half to two billion pounds to fix the water service and make it fit for purpose.

"The government needs to fix that if they are going to then threaten people with [water] rates. I am not going to pay rates for something that isn't fit for purpose".

Asked if the DUP was seeking a financial package from the UK Government as a "sweetener" to get the powersharing administration re-established, Mr Paisley said: "No, I think it's much more difficult to get Stormont brought back that people honestly think.

"They think, 'oh, just get the election over and get the marching season over, Parliament comes back at Stormont' – that's not the case.

"I think we all knew, that whenever we withdrew our First Minister, way back then, this was going to be very, very difficult to get back".

However, TUV leader Jim Allister was not convinced. “I am concerned that the DUP are moving onto the territory the government had wanted to get them to,” he said.

“Unionism needs to be resolute on the anti-protocol ground. Once the DUP have shifted to ground where they can be bought off by a financial package they are losing on the vital issues.”