Stormont Executive

Goods being sorted at a food bank. An emergency food parcel will be provided every 10 seconds across the UK this winter, the Trussell charity has predicted. The food bank organisation said rising costs of essentials such as food, electricity and rent are pushing more families "to the brink". Issue date: Wednesday December 3, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Andy Buchanan/PA Wire

Almost 200,000 in NI at risk of needing to use food banks

Morning View

Editorial: Fix needed for parties' inability to set a Stormont budget

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey delivering his budget in the House of Commons, Westminster.

Northern Ireland to miss out on further funding if budget not agreed – Bryant

Sinn Fein finance minister John O'Dowd gives an update on budget negotiations following a meeting of the Stormont Executive with Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant (Picture: Claudia Savage/the Press Association)

Budget ‘can’t be agreed without more funding’

Michelle O’Neill rejects that ‘there’s no more money’ for NI in budget row

Michelle O’Neill rejects that ‘there’s no more money’ for NI in budget row

Morning View

Editorial: Stormont ministers need to do their jobs and agree a budget

There is a “structural tension” between how Stormont is funded and the cost of maintaining the public sector workforce, a report has suggested

Public sector pay ‘increasingly significant source of budget pressure’

Alliance Councillor Nicola Parker with the free period products.

Stormont urged to extend free period product funding

Stormont minister have jointly called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to provide more money for public services in Northern Ireland. Photo: James Manning/PA

Stormont ministers call on Andy Burnham to deliver 'fair funding' for NI

John O’Dowd insisted a budget can only be agreed when agreement is reached with the UK government for “fair and sustainable funding” for Stormont. (File image)

Stormont Finance Minister seeking ‘urgent meeting’ with Chancellor

Taoiseach Michael Martin listening to performers at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann 2026, in Belfast, a week of song, dance and culture as part of the world's largest celebration of traditional Irish music

Taoiseach urges ‘political maturity’ at Stormont amid DUP and Sinn Fein row

Andy Burnham has expressed a wish for more devolution. Pic: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Owen Polley: Burnham should resist calls from Stormont for more cash

A CMA report has recommended Stormont strengthens protections for households reliant on home heating oil.

Stormont minister to 'consider' call for greater regulation of home heating oil

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons

Judgment reserved in latest challenge to delay on Irish language strategy

First Minister Michelle O'Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly speak to the media following the publication of their Programme for Government annual report 2025-26. Picture: Rebecca Black/PA Wire

Stormont Executive ‘taking steps in right direction’ despite £1bn hole in budget

DUP leader Gavin Robsin said he met Prime Minister Sir Keir Stamer and made it clear that Northern Ireland must be funded fairly. Pictured is the pair during a recent meeting at the Culloden Hotel, Co. Down, in March.

DUP presses Chancellor for ‘better financial settlement’ for NI
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he has pressed the Chancellor for a better financial settlement for Northern Ireland.
By Rebecca Black, Press Association

Jamie Bryson pictured at the High Court this morning.

No Irish language strategy during current Stormont Executive lifetime

Ministers in the Executive have called on Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn to “ensure the Local Growth Fund receives a realistic resource allocation immediately”.

Executive calls for urgent Government action on community sector funding crisis

Mike Farrer, permanent secretary at the Department of Health in Northern Ireland speaks to media about the budget at the department's headquarters at Castle Buildings in the Stormont estate (Rebecca Black/PA Wire)

Major health service reset 'will be more difficult without a multi-year budget'

A man sweeps up debris near a residential building that was hit in an airstrike in the early hours of March 27, 2026 in Tehran, Iran; the war has been pushing up oil prices

Pressure on Stormont over home heating bills as questions remain on £17m scheme

£81m of money coming from the UK government to subsidise electricity prices will be spread very thinly as an annual payment of £30 in each of the three years starting July 2026 to every NI electricity bill payer

Esmond Birnie: Stormont’s ineffectual approach to subsidising energy costs

Home heating oil prices in Northern Ireland last week surged by up to 81%.

SDLP call for support package for home heating oil and gas prices

Screen grab of Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn appearing before the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at the House of Commons in central London.

Executive must help fill growth fund shortfall, Northern Ireland Secretary says

East Londonderry UUP Association Chairman Robert Carmichael.

UUP urges boost for farm tourism

The UK Treasury has agreed to provide Stormont with a loan of £400 million, to be repaid over three years

Treasury loan is ‘de facto bailout’ masking budget overspending, Stormont warned

Communities minister Gordon Lyons as he announced which clubs had been taken forward to receive part of the money allocated to local football.

Crusaders and Derry City legal challenge to football fund exclusion to go ahead

First Minister Michelle O'Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly bid farewell to President of Ireland Catherine Connolly following their meeting at Stormont Castle, Belfast, on day one of her visit to Northern Ireland. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Irish President Catherine Connolly arrives at Stormont for NI visit
Irish President Catherine Connolly has been greeted by Northern Ireland's First Minister and deputy First Minister at the start of her three-day visit.
By Claudia Savage and Rebecca Black, Press Association

The Assembly was effectively suspended due to DUP protest action over post-Brexit trading arrangements for two years. It followed a three-year suspension after Sinn Fein collapsed the Assembly from 2017-2020.

Stormont leaders ‘prioritising division over delivery’ two years in

Robert Carmichael, the East Londonderry Ulster Unionist Association Chairman.

Follow up Ulster flag move with cash for sports, urges UUP

The offer was welcomed by the Northern Ireland Teachers Council

NI teachers consider 4% pay increase offer from management

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn

Stormont must make 'difficult decisions' in 2026 warns Hilary Benn

The government has allocated £16.6 million for schemes to alleviate trade problems caused by the Irish Sea border.

Murphy Review: Government will actively promote 'dual market access'

A 4.2% pay award for police officers can now be implemented

Pay uplift for police officers as ministers agree monitoring round funding

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said a tense letter exchange between Paul Givan and John O’Dowd, reported by the BBC, “outlines the challenges” the Executive currently faces

‘Panto season’ hits Executive amid row between ministers over budget

The executive at Stormont has been urged by a think tank to take the chance to set a multi-year budget

Stormont warned of danger of public services collapsing

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said some 330,000 (17%) of people in Northern Ireland live in poverty, and that one in four children are growing up in poverty.

Stormont urged to tackle poverty as report says one in four children affected

East Londonderry UUP Association Chairman Robert Carmichael.

Give every farm bio security against Blue Tongue, UUP urges Stormont Executive

Health minister Mike Nesbitt has said that his first action when he receives his next budget allocation will be to ringfence funding for staff pay

Health minister addresses concerns over funding for health staff pay increases

Finance Minister John O’Dowd again ruled out water charges as a way of raising money

O'Dowd tells executive to get serious on raising revenue

Handout screengrab issued by UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry of Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Baroness Heather Hallett

Stormont response to Covid characterised by ‘petty party politics’, say bereaved

The report has concluded that the response in Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, was “a repeated case of too little, too late”

Divided Stormont led to ‘chaotic’ Covid response, public inquiry finds

East Londonderry UUP Association Chairman Robert Carmichael.

Go to war against TB, UUP urges Stormont

East Londonderry UUP Association Chairman Robert Carmichael.

Give more cash to Young Farmers, UUP urges Stormont

An aerial view shows redevelopment works at Casement Park stadium in Belfast on March 19, 2024 (photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Stormont 'does not have £100 million sitting about to fund Casement Park'

The Stormont Executive has a few options at its disposal

Letter: Stormont’s fiscal policy is to make us poorer

Secretary of State Hilary Benn’s approach to the redesign of a process to deal with Northern Ireland’s troubled past has been blasted as “appalling”.

Stormont Executive has choice to raise its own revenue, says Benn

Flooding on Sunningdale Drove off the Tullybrannigan Road in Newcastle, Co Down. Photograph by Declan Roughan / Press Eye

Stormont Executive to discuss potential support following Co Down floods

The largest allocation is £100 million to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt who had asked fellow ministers for £200 million to enable him to deliver a recommended uplift to healthcare workers

Stormont offers £150m to ministers struggling to meet worker pay demands

A claim of there being a “battle a day” at the Stormont Executive was a “surprise to me”, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has said.

Claim of ‘battle a day’ at Stormont Executive a ‘surprise to me’ – Mike Nesbitt

Relations at the Stormont Executive have been described as a “battle a day”

‘Battle a day’ at Stormont Executive, says minister

Blue-green algae at Battery Harbour on Lough Neagh near Cookstown in Tyrone last month. Professor Robin May, chief scientific adviser at the Food Standards Agency, today said that fish caught in the lough 'are still safe to eat'. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images

Lough Neagh fish safe to eat despite toxin discovery, FSA says

From left, Education Minister Paul Givan, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, DUP leader Gavin Robinson, DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen and Communities Minister Gordon Lyons speak to media at the Great Hall, Parliament Buildings, Stormont, as the DUP group meets at Stormont on first day after summer recess. Photo: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire

DUP says Executive ‘delivering’ as SDLP brands it ‘comatose

Due to industrial action, there has frequently been no way to test schools independently, or ensure they are providing an adequate education

Owen Polley: Stormont has to start facing down trade unions

The Windsor Framework has no support from any of Stormont's unionist MLAs.

Unionists reject Murphy Review’s assessment on Windsor Framework

The lough has been blighted with blue-green algae in recent summers, with noxious blooms covering large swathes of the surface.

Call for urgent cross-party action to save Lough Neagh

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