FOLLOWING A LENGTHY meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive, Stormont ministers have agreed to a budget for this financial year.

However, there was not agreement across the board, with disputes over the funding given over to health.

Deputy first minister and DUP MLA Emma Little-Pengelly said it was disappointing that Health Minister and UUP MLA Robin Swann had not supported the budget agreed by other Stormont ministers.

Speaking at a press conference, Little-Pengelly said the funds the Ulster Unionist health minister requested would have subsumed the entire budget available.

She said 50% of the available budget had been given to health.

Swann had warned the budget agreed would cause “serious and potentially irreparable damage” to health services in Northern Ireland.

In a letter sent to health committee members, Swann said it would lead to an “unprecedented cash terms budget reduction”.

He continued: “I believe it would result in serious and potentially irreparable damage to health and care services.

“Patients who rely on these services would be placed at significantly greater risk of coming to actual harm and the already intolerable pressures on staff would be multiplied.”

His letter added: “I could not stand over the implementation of cuts of this scale.

“I have a real fear that a service that is currently struggling in many areas could be pushed to the point of collapse in at least some areas.”

Meanwhile, first minister and Sinn Féin MLA Michelle O’Neill remarked that the agreed budget was “very challenging”.

However, she said the new budget would provide funding for a childcare strategy.

O’Neill said: “Despite the severity of the financial challenges that are facing us we have all collectively tried to work together to make the tough choices and to demonstrate the leadership that the public rightly deserve.

“The budget itself underlines our commitment to health, in terms of prioritising health, it also invests significantly in our education services and provides funding for the childcare strategy.

“There is no doubt – and there is no escaping the fact – this was a very difficult call, a very difficult budget for us to discuss.”

Elsewhere, Stormont justice minister and Alliance leader Naomi Long warned her department’s budget allocation will place “significant limitations” on the delivery of services.

Addressing the Assembly’s justice committee, Long said she cannot overstate the impact the budget will have on her department, which has responsibility for policing, courts and prisons.

She described “inadequate funding from the Northern Ireland block grant” and said the Executive must continue to press the British Treasury for more funding.

She outlined challenges to her department including a high prison population, low police officer numbers and forecasts of a 30% increase in legal aid payments.

“Realistically, we will struggle not to breach our budget limit next year,” she said.

“I think at times the understanding of what cuts to the Department of Justice budget, the impact on the community, is misunderstood, and I would say underestimated.

“We are not talking here simply here about cases taking slightly longer to go through court, we are talking about potentially catastrophic failures that could lead to life-changing experiences for people, life-ending experiences for some people.

“Keeping people safe, protecting life, preservation of public order – those are all key things that we have to be able to do and we can’t really dictate the demand in the system.”