Northern Ireland can do without another year of broken promises.
Posted by Jim on January 14, 2025
2025 crying out for clear, decisive leadership from our politicians
Editorial
Wed 1 Jan 2025 at 05:00
Northern Ireland can do without another year of broken promises.
The carrots were waved in front of all who live here. There was the promise of a sack of gold on the restoration of the Assembly, the promise of upgrades to the A5 and A1 roads, the promise of an end to industrial disputes across health, education and the civil service, the promise of a Euro 2028 tournament to look forward to and the promise of multi-millions in investment from the US once the country showed it could commit to a political future.
There is, sadly, no surprise that many of those promises were as empty as the bank vaults at Stormont in 2024.
Northern Ireland in 2024 was potholed by a series of scandals, changes in leadership and political upheaval at a time when work needed to be done.
Every year comes with surprises in store. How you react to them is the key to progress.
For both our main political parties, times in 2024 were turbulent.
For the DUP, a forced change of leadership followed the decision to return to Stormont that in itself caused angst in loyalist circles.
For Sinn Fein, while Michelle O’Neill was delivered as First Minister, that came with extra scrutiny and a struggle to deal with scandals of their own making.
Changes too for the SDLP and Ulster Unionists, with new leadership for both.
Things do change, no matter how much you plan ahead. The year 2025 is crying out for clear, decisive leadership to see us all through what awaits.
In the short term, what awaits is a growing financial crisis with all departments in government calling for more help to do the things that need doing.
We need decisions on how the future of the health service will look, become more sustainable, reduce waiting lists, save local GP surgeries and give everyone the level of care they had been accustomed to.
We need an end to the constant threat of industrial action in education. We have schools to be proud of, but need buildings for them to be proud in.
We need progress on major road and transport initiatives, an end to the gridlock that’s strangling Belfast, a start to the A5 scheme, and, as Christmas has all too horrifically shown, improvements across the network to make our roads as safe as they can possibly be.
Politicians are entrusted with the ability to make the choices for everyone, and though the risk of every decision is that you will make the wrong one, decisions must be made nonetheless.
And what can we do except try to do better? And do what is needed to make good on promises made.