Latest news with #MatthewOToole
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Irish unity vote only route for Northern Ireland to rejoin EU – O'Toole
The only route for Northern Ireland to rejoin the European Union is through an Irish unity referendum, SDLP Stormont leader Matthew O'Toole has said. Mr O'Toole was speaking ahead of an opposition motion in the Stormont Assembly, nine years on from the 2016 Brexit referendum. Advertisement The SDLP MLA will say there has been a 'structural shift' in British politics with the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. He will also tell Stormont any prospect of the UK rejoining the EU is 'miniscule', and a referendum under the terms set out in the Good Friday Agreement is the 'only route back to EU membership' for Northern Ireland. Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr O'Toole said: 'The SDLP welcomes the improved co-operation between the UK and the EU following the recent summit in London, along with progress in a number of areas that begin to ease some post-Brexit frictions. 'We always knew Brexit would be disastrous for the whole UK economy, for Northern Ireland and relationships across these islands. Sadly, so it has proven. Advertisement 'Northern Ireland was dragged out of Europe against its will, and our politics has suffered the consequences.' He said British politics was continuing an 'irresistible drift towards 'Faragism'.' Mr O'Toole added: 'We have virtually no power to stop that happening. 'But we do have a viable pathway to a different future – a European future – and that is through a new Ireland. Advertisement 'It is time all parties who claim to be pro-European and reject the 'Faragification' of UK politics to acknowledge our only route back into Europe is via an inclusive, hopeful new Ireland.'
BreakingNews.ie
19-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Stormont Opposition to vote against Budget
Stormont's official Opposition is to vote against the Budget, criticising it as 'listless'. The Executive agreed its Budget for 2025/26 in April, with increased investment pledged to tackle hospital waiting lists and support parents with the cost of childcare. Advertisement Finance Minister John O'Dowd is set to bring his Budget to the Assembly later for MLAs to vote on. However, the Opposition has indicated it will vote against the Budget, and has published a five-point plan to improve it. The proposals include ensuring that at least 10% of departmental spending must be ringfenced and matched to Programme for Government priorities, and securing Executive control over more tax, borrowing and spending powers. The SDLP has also proposed creating a Northern Ireland Regional Investment Bank, which is empowered to participate in co-financed and cross-border projects and to legislate for a Future Generations Act to embed long-term thinking into all government decision-making and spending. Advertisement Opposition leader Matthew O'Toole said the Budget is 'listless' and 'more of the same'. He said when the Executive was restored last February, much had been promised. 'But so far has been marked by the same inaction and lack of ambition the public has become all too used to,' he said. 'The Programme for Government was late and filled with gauzy aspiration but little by way of clear targets, and the Budget which followed has completely failed to match what few targets there are to specific resources. Advertisement 'But Executive ministers, particularly successive Sinn Fein finance ministers, have been only too keen to lump all the blame on the UK Government while doing next to nothing to take more fiscal power locally to manage our own finances and set out our own priorities. 'A Fiscal Commission report, nearly four years old and full of suggestions for greater local power, has sat on the shelf while Sinn Féin ministers have paid empty lip service to its findings. 'With many public services in crisis, crumbling water infrastructure and environmental degradation, it is vital that we take proper power locally to improve things for our citizens. 'We will oppose today's listless, more of the same Budget from the Executive, but as a constructive Opposition, we will also publish our own ideas for taking more responsibility and more power here, rather than simply blame a UK Government we know will rarely prioritise the interests of our citizens.'
