How The £3.3bn Financial Package For Northern Ireland Will Be Allocated

It has taken some time but it is a great relief to see that the Executive at Stormont is fully functioning once more. The paralysis that the country was under due to the Executive not sitting was stifling any momentum that could have built up after the Covid-19 pandemic. Now there is a genuine sense of optimism that Northern Ireland can move forward and business leaders can begin to make plans and thrive once more.

Now That Stormont Is Running Again The Funding Has Been Released

And of course now that Stormont is running again the UK government have released a £3.3 billion financial package for Northern Ireland. There have been details released of how this money will be allocated. Here are some of those details, as copied from an article on the BBC News website. The article reads:

‘The UK government has given details of money being reallocated as part of the financial package which accompanied the return of Stormont.

‘The £3.3bn package included around £620m of central government funds which had previously been allocated for specific purposes in Northern Ireland.

‘Under the terms of the deal, the Executive can now decide how the majority of those funds will be used.

‘The largest reallocation, £203m, comes from the New Deal for Northern Ireland.

‘The New Deal, announced in 2020, was a £400m package largely aimed at mitigating the economic impacts of Brexit on Northern Ireland.

Other Reallocations Attached To Earlier Political Deals And Levelling Up

‘The other reallocations are a combination of money attached to earlier political deals and ‘levelling up’ funding.

‘They are:

• New Decade, New Approach – £64.6m
• Fresh Start/Stormont House – £150m
• Levelling Up Fund Round 3 – £30m
• A portion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund – £22.6m

‘In addition, there is £153m which flows from funding streams announced in the Chancellor’s 2023 autumn statement and £85m of new money.

‘From that total of £708m, £235m must be used for public service transformation and its release is subject to the establishment of a public service transformation board.’

As we have mentioned in a previous blog a proportion of the funding will be swallowed up paying outstanding black holes in the government’s finances. But Northern Ireland is not alone in this situation, many regions of the UK are under tremendous financial pressures and are looking to cut costs so they can stay solvent. There is definitely some room for a little optimism though and we can all be thankful for that.