WELFARE REFORM - THE FACTS

Despite the obvious political crisis that is developing around welfare reform, Sinn Fein remain in total denial about the facts and the dire implications for Northern Ireland and our financial viability.  With our public finances about to go into default and the Treasury poised to intervene, Sinn Fein twist and distort the facts and bizarrely are lauded by some senior journalists for doing so.  Let's be clear - this crisis will hurt every family in Northern Ireland.  It is already impacting on the delivery of some important public services and has seen the innocent victims of terrorism denied the opportunity for their unsolved murder cases to be reviewed. 

The DUP were the only main Party in Northern Ireland to vote AGAINST welfare reforms at Westminster.  Sinn Fein didn't bother to turn up - their constituents needs abandoned to an outdated notion that they cannot recognise the 'British Head of State', a state that subsidises our public finances to the tune of billions of pounds every year.  The UK Government has made clear in comments by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State that there is no further room for negotiation on this issue.  The Labour Party has also stated that they will not reverse the welfare reforms implemented by the current Government. 

Here are some of the undeniable facts:

Last year Northern Ireland lost £13 Million in funding of public services due to penalties on welfare reform.

This year we will lose £87 Million in penalties straight from our budget. How many extra Police Officers, Nurses and Teachers could we employ with this money?

Next year we will lose a further £114 Million in penalties - cut from vital public services.  This will inevitably mean cuts to healthcare with devastating consequences for many people.

If we fail to retain parity with Great Britain in social security benefits, then from 2016 we will no longer be able to use their new IT system for the payment of such benefits.  This means that we will either have to fund the continuation of the current antiquated IT system at a huge additional cost to the Northern Ireland budget or acquire our own system costing hundreds of millions of pounds.  Money we simply don't have!

There are 1600 Northern Ireland jobs linked to operating the current computer system for the payment of benefits in the north of England.  If we fail to maintain parity, then we will not be able to join the new IT system for social security benefits and these important jobs will be lost. Sinn Fein may not care about these jobs but we do.

The fact is that Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister had reached agreement with the DUP on welfare reform.  This agreement would mean that Northern Ireland is able to alleviate some of the impact of the reforms, including the fact that existing tenants will not be penalised with the so-called 'bedroom tax' and new tenants can make the choice of the size of property most suitable to their needs and finances.  However, his Party Leader Gerry Adams pulled the rug from under the Deputy First Minister and blocked the agreement.  He did this because Sinn Fein want to avoid the accusation in Dublin that they oppose austerity measures in the Republic of Ireland but implement them in Northern Ireland. A situation where vulnerable people in Northern Ireland are enduring hardship due to welfare reform penalties in order to satisfy the external ambitions of one political party is totally unacceptable. 

This needs sorted and quickly.  If we cannot reach agreement on welfare reform, then I fear for the consequences in Northern Ireland.  It is all very well for Gerry Adams to say that he will collapse the Assembly and Executive before agreeing to welfare reform.  However, such a collapse will create a political vacuum and usher in Direct Rule - a form of governance in which none of us will have a say in our future.  Ironically a Direct Rule that will see an even more austere version of welfare reform imposed upon us.  The men of violence will move quickly to fill the vacuum created by a failure of political leadership.  Is that really what Sinn Fein want?  These are critical days.  Sinn Fein must chose between Louth and Belfast, between fiction and reality, between a shared future and a return to a violent past.