19 May 2026
The conspiracy of silence from Executive parties on their failure to agree a Budget is unacceptable while public services are squeezed by the absence of an agreed Budget, Opposition Leader Matthew O’Toole has said.
He was speaking as the Executive reached its eighth week of the new financial year without an agreed Budget – meaning Ministers have been in breach of the law for nearly two months.
Yesterday in the Assembly, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons indicated that spending on support for domestic violence could be held up by the absence of an agreed Budget, coming after the deputy First Minister last week acknowledged that community relations funding was also being stalled by the absence of a Budget.
There is currently no clarity on when or if a Budget will be agreed – despite the Finance Minister saying the multi-year Budget he published in January would be “transformational”.
Matthew O’Toole MLA said:
“This slow-moving crisis is what we should all be talking about. Yet the conspiracy of silence from Executive parties on the failure to agree a Budget is deafening. Executive parties, especially the Finance Minister and his colleagues are masters at shifting all responsibility for our finances the UK Government, but they are making the situation worse by not setting a Budget.
“If a Budget is not set then the squeeze imposed by the UK Government will be even worse. Already we know that funding in a range of crucial areas, from community relations to domestic violence support, is being jeopardised. And not by UK Government decisions, but by the failure of the Executive to take responsibility and do their jobs.
“We are nearly two months into the financial year and the Executive is creating chaos by failing to set a Budget. Worse they are insulting everyone’s intelligence by failing to even acknowledge the problems they have created.”