21 October 2026

SDLP Opposition Leader Matthew O'Toole MLA has said today's bitter exchanges between the DUP and Sinn Féin at the Executive Office Committee distracted from the real scandal unfolding elsewhere at Stormont, after the Department of Finance confirmed it is now too late for any civil service pay deal to be reflected in Christmas wages.

Matthew O'Toole MLA said:

"While the First Ministers and their parties were trading insults across the committee room, just down the corridor officials were confirming the cost of the Executive's failure to govern.

"The Department of Finance has now confirmed it is too late for any civil service pay settlement to be reflected in Christmas wages because the Executive still has not agreed a Budget.

"The public are tired of the shouting matches, the finger-pointing and the political theatre. They want Ministers focused on the decisions that affect their lives.

"Today's scenes exposed everything that's wrong with this Executive. While the two largest parties were busy attacking each other, more than 20,000 civil servants learned they have no prospect of seeing a pay increase in their Christmas pay packet.

"That's the real story from Stormont today. The mudslinging and manufactured outrage won't hide the fact that this Executive has failed to agree a Budget, and ordinary workers are paying the price."