Programme for government agreement an important milestone - O'Neill

The agreement of a long-awaited programme for government by Northern Ireland's ministers is an important milestone, First Minister Michelle O'Neill has said.

The programme was agreed after a virtual meeting of ministers that lasted about 40 minutes on Thursday morning, a day after plans to agree the document were withdrawn at the last minute.

The document will have to be delivered to the assembly first on Monday before it can be published to the wider public.

Speaking at a press conference, O'Neill said the agreed programme will "set out the foundations to help build a prosperous and sustainable future for generations to come".

"That includes focusing on priorities such as delivering improvements on childcare, cutting waiting lists, ending violence against women and girls, growing our economy and protecting the environment."

The programme for government is a document that sets out the shared priorities of all parties that make up Northern Ireland's power-sharing government and target's that the Executive hopes to achieve during its mandate.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said the "unanimous agreement" from ministers was "an important step in bringing about an ambitious agenda of delivery".

She said ministers were "determined to build on our reputation here as a great place to live, work and invest" and that "good progress" had already been made in many of the priority issues.

The programme for government comes just over a year since the Northern Ireland Executive reformed in February 2024.

A draft version of the programme, an 88-page document entitled Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most, was unveiled last September before an eight-week public consultation.

More than 1,400 responses were received in the consultation process for the draft programme for government, the first and deputy first ministers said.

O'Neill said there was "broad support" for the proposals put forward, but they have also "listened to the views of the public".

Little-Pengelly said that as a result they have added "commitments to address poverty and to support our ageing population".

She also said the final document includes "ambitious targets" and that progress would be monitored.

The minister said a "wellbeing dashboard" would help ensure the plans were "having the intended impact".

First Minister Michelle O'Neill described as a "process issue" a last-minute postponement of the executive meeting to agree the programme for government.

A scheduled meeting was pulled on Wednesday after Alliance Party minister Andrew Muir said he wanted more time to review the final document.

He characterised it as a "storm in a teacup", but the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) described the further delay as a "farce".

Speaking to reporters about the postponement, O'Neill said: "Well look, yesterday's gone.

"We had a process issue which we needed to work our way through, and we've got through that, and now we have unanimous agreement.

"I think the public at home would be more interested to know what our priorities are, and how realistic they are, and how we're going to deliver upon them.

"And we hope that the programme for government will do that."

Little-Pengelly said there are "many different views" across a four-party coalition and they have tried to work in a way that "maximizes consensus".

"I think the fact that we've received unanimous agreement to this programme for government demonstrates that hard work was worth it," she added.

Meanwhile a visit by Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin to Belfast today has been postponed.

He was due to visit Stormont for the first time since being re-elected taoiseach last month.

The Irish government said that the meeting has been pulled due to a schedule change.

Irish national broadcaster RTÉ has reported that Martin is to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Shannon Airport.

Zelensky is to make a brief stop in Ireland before travelling to the United States to meet President Trump.

The priorities set out in the draft were described by First Minister Michelle O'Neill as "ambitious and focused".

There were nine key priorities:

• Grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy
• Deliver more affordable childcare
• Cut health waiting lists
• Ending violence against women and girls
• Better support for children and young people with special educational needs
• Provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing
• Safer communities
• Protect Lough Neagh and the environment
• Reform and transformation of public services

It has been some time since a Stormont executive agreed a finalised programme for government.

The last time an executive managed to get one over the line was during the assembly's fourth term between 2011 and 2015.

Here's a timeline of events since then:

• November 2011: Executive led by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness publishes a draft programme for government for consultation

• March 2012: Programme for government agreed by the executive and endorsed by the assembly

• May 2016: Following an assembly election, a new executive is formed, led by Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness

• May 2016: The executive publishes a draft framework for the programme for government

• January 2017: Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigns, triggering the collapse of the executive before a programme for government was formally agreed

• January 2017 - January 2020: Northern Ireland's power-sharing institutions suspended

• January 2020: New executive formed, led by Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill

• February 2020: Arrival of Covid-19 pandemic delays work on a programme for government

• January 2021: Public consultation period opens on new draft programme for government

• February 2022: Paul Givan, now first minister, resigns in protest over post-Brexit trading agreements, once again bringing down the Executive

• February 2024: Executive restored, led by Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly

• September 2024: Draft programme for government published

• February 2025: Executive endorses programme for government