28 April 2026
SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole MLA has today criticised Finance Minister John O’Dowd for continuing to deflect responsibility for the Executive’s failure to deliver a budget.
Speaking during Assembly questions, O'Toole pointed to what he described as a growing contradiction within Sinn Féin’s position. While the party’s Finance Spokesperson, Pearse Doherty TD, has called for an emergency budget in the South, Sinn Féin in the North has yet to pass even a routine budget - despite holding both the Finance and Economy ministries.
Matthew O'Toole MLA said:
"Listening to the Minister today, you’d think the problem was everyone else. It’s not. The problem is that months on, this Executive still hasn’t passed a multi-year budget.
"What makes it worse is the sheer contradiction. At the weekend, Pearse Doherty TD was calling for an emergency budget in the South. Yet here, Sinn Féin can’t deliver any budget at all. People will rightly ask, how can the same party argue for urgency in one place and tolerate paralysis in another?
"The Minister himself stood over this draft budget just months ago and called it ‘transformative’. Now he won’t even stand by it. That tells its own story.
"We all want to see a better financial settlement from London, that’s not in dispute. But you don’t strengthen your case by failing to do the basics at home. You strengthen it by showing you can govern, set priorities, and pass a budget.
"The Minister needs to stop trying to deflect and bluster his way out of this. The question remains, and it’s a simple one: when will there be a budget?"