September Monitoring Round

Part of the debate – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 1:00 pm on 12 November 2001.

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Photo of Mr James Leslie Mr James Leslie UUP 1:00, 12 November 2001

The Minister’s statement was full of gloomy tidings that the largesse — the largesse of the Durkan years — may be ending. What does he know that we do not?

The Minister stressed that we should expect the unexpected with regard to increases in costs and that we might have to reduce allocations, despite the fact that, hitherto, bids have tended to exceed the ability to spend the money allocated. That reflects overbidding or inaccurate budgeting — or a bit of both.

Mr Durkan makes trenchant remarks about the need for hard choices and tough and unavoidable decisions but then reminds us that someone else will have to make them. With that job description, I hope he will indeed be able to find a successor before too long.

Following Mr Durkan’s elevation to the post of Deputy First Minister, does he expect that the Executive, in not shirking their responsibilities, will be able to reach consensual decisions on these tough and unavoidable hard choices that he assures us are coming up in the future?