SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole MLA has criticised the Alliance Party for tabling a motion “to mask their own inaction” on institutional reform, saying it highlights their inability to deliver on real change while holding influence at the Executive table.
He reaffirmed the SDLP’s support for serious, actionable institutional reform, but said that requires political courage, not motions designed to deflect responsibility.
Matthew O’Toole MLA said:
“The COVID Inquiry has been damning in its findings about the way our institutions functioned under pressure. It confirmed what people across the North already knew. When crisis hit, politics came first and public health came second. That failure was rooted in structural weaknesses and the conduct of the two largest parties.
“The SDLP has long supported meaningful reform to ensure this place can actually govern. But reform happens at the Executive table. Through negotiation, legislation and delivery, not through empty gestures on the Assembly floor.
“Alliance made institutional reform a central pledge of their last Assembly campaign. They took a record number of seats. They had real leverage, and they have delivered next to nothing. Now they’re seeking credit for diagnosing a problem they have done absolutely nothing to fix.
“Northern Ireland needs parties willing to do the hard graft of reform, not parties who turn up after the fact with motions designed to mask their own inaction. People deserve a functioning government, not more political theatre from MLAs avoiding responsibility.”
ENDS
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