‘No urgency’ from secretary of state to restore Stormont, says Sinn leader Michelle O’Neill, adding that budget cuts are ‘not acceptable and not tolerable’

Sinn Fein vice-president Ms O’Neill and Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy met with the secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris at Hillsborough castle on Wednesday.

In the absence of a Stormont executive, the secretary of state was obliged to set the budget for Northern Ireland, with many departments facing significant shortfalls. The DUP have been boycotting Stormont for over a year in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Ms O’Neill said the level of cuts proposed in the budget set by Mr Heaton-Harris were not tolerable and that a real plan was needed to restore Stormont.

“This is not acceptable and not tolerable, so what we wanted to impress upon himself (Heaton-Harris) today was: what is the plan for the restoration of the executive?” she said. “It’s unfortunate to say I don’t believe there’s any urgency there on his part. I think that was certainly our reflection of the conversation that we just had.

She added: “But we need some urgency, there needs to be a real plan and we need to understand when we’re going to have a restored executive and assembly, but certainly the emphasis of our conversation today was around, one the restoration, but two, the scale and savagery of the cuts that are being imposed upon the public because the DUP are in a stand-off with the British government.”

The Department of Health said it is facing a shortfall of £470 million while the Department of Infrastructure said its budget pressures may result in streetlights being turned off and roads not being gritted in winter. The Department for Communities said it is facing a £111.2 million resource funding gap, and the Education Authority are looking at a shortfall in the region of £200 million.

On Tuesday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed that more financial support for Northern Ireland is part of discussions with the Government.

Mr Murphy has said a potential financial package from the UK Government upon the restoration of the Stormont assembly would not be “one party’s wishlist”.

“We also made the point to Chris Heaton-Harris that if there has to be a discussion, it’s a discussion which involves all of the parties and the civil service,” he said “This isn’t one party’s wishlist – we have ideas, the other parties have ideas, in relation to what is needed to try and offset some of the worst damage that the British Government’s budget has made, so he agreed, he accepted that point, that this is a discussion for all parties and senior civil servants as well.”

Ms O’Neill said her party would be meeting with Jayne Brady, head of the Northern Ireland civil service, to discuss budgetary concerns, but also added that all parties needed to be involved in setting the budget.

“It has to be the collective view and will of all the parties working together here to achieve the most efficient budget that allows us to actually deliver good public services,” she said.

Following Wednesday’s meeting with the secretary of state, Ms O’Neill also confirmed a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference will be held to establish a plan for the restoration of the Stormont executive.

“The two governments will come together, we’ve been calling for this immediately after the election, and it’s now time for them both to come together as co-guarantors,” she said. “Let’s have a plan on the table, how are we going to restore the executive.”

Ms O’Neill has previously said she wanted the meeting to be “at Taoiseach and Prime Minister level”.