Finance Minister John O’Dowd has met with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to press for a “fair and sustainable budget” for Northern Ireland, warning that Westminster’s current funding offer is insufficient to deliver quality public services. The meeting, held on 17 September 2026, marked the first Finance: Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC) since the appointment of new Welsh and Scottish Finance Ministers.
The encounter comes amid ongoing tensions over Northern Ireland’s financial settlement, with the Executive struggling to balance its books against a backdrop of rising costs and what ministers describe as years of underinvestment from central government.
What Was Discussed
According to the Department of Finance, Minister O’Dowd used the meeting to push for fundamental changes to how Northern Ireland is funded. His core argument centres on two interconnected demands:
- An end to what he calls the “cycle of short-term financial interventions” that has hampered long-term planning
- Access to “fiscal levers” currently available to Scotland and Wales but not to Northern Ireland
The Minister was explicit about the shortcomings of the current approach. In a statement following the meeting, he said:
“Workers, families, businesses, and those delivering our public services, pay their taxes and deserve quality public services. During my meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury today I reiterated that the proposed funding package on offer from the Westminster Government is insufficient to deliver quality public services here.”
He added:
“We need to move beyond the cycle of short-term financial interventions that has constrained long-term planning and investment in public service transformation. This requires a stable and recurring funding settlement that reflects need and enables the delivery of high-quality public services.”
The Fiscal Levers Question
A significant element of O’Dowd’s pitch involves securing powers already wielded by the other devolved nations. Scotland and Wales have accumulated greater fiscal autonomy over the past decade, including some powers over income tax and property taxes, though the specific powers being sought by Northern Ireland were not detailed in the press release.
Northern Ireland, by contrast, remains heavily dependent on the Barnett-formula Block Grant, with limited revenue-raising powers. According to the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council, the region raises only around 5% of its revenue locally—the lowest level among comparable developed jurisdictions.
Minister O’Dowd’s reference to “fiscal levers available elsewhere” appears to signal a desire to close this gap, though the specific powers being sought were not detailed in the press release.
Commitment to Reform
The Minister sought to balance his criticism of Westminster with an acknowledgment of local responsibilities. He stated:
“We are committed to undertaking the reforms and transformation required to secure the long-term sustainability of our public finances. The Westminster Government must play its part too by engaging urgently with us on a funding framework that properly reflects need, delivers stability, and enables high-quality public services. This includes providing access to the fiscal levers available elsewhere.”
He concluded with a call for urgency: “We stand ready to make further progress on these issues urgently.”
Missing Context and Unanswered Questions
The Department of Finance’s statement leaves several important questions unresolved:
- No specific figures: The “proposed funding package” from Westminster is not quantified, making it impossible to assess the scale of the shortfall O’Dowd identifies
- No Treasury response: The press release presents only one side of the conversation. The Treasury’s position—whether it offered any concessions or counter-proposals—remains unknown
- Timing ambiguity: It is unclear whether this meeting was tied to a specific fiscal event, such as an upcoming Budget, Spending Review, or the need to finalise Northern Ireland’s delayed 2026-27 budget
- Executive unity: The statement speaks only for the Finance Minister. The positions of other Executive parties, including the DUP, are not mentioned
The significance of this particular meeting’s timing is also unclear. Welsh Government records show Finance Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee meetings occurred throughout 2025 and early 2026, including on 26 March 2026 and 31 October 2025. According to available records, the Scottish Finance Secretary was appointed in May 2024.
Broader Significance
This meeting sits within a pattern of increasingly vocal complaints from Stormont about Northern Ireland’s funding position. The Northern Ireland Fiscal Council warned in February 2026 that the proposed 2026-27 to 2028-29 budget was “unlikely to remain deliverable in practice” without additional funding, reform, or revenue-raising measures.
The Executive has been operating under severe financial pressure, with the £520 million annual stabilisation funding provided as part of the 2024 restoration package due to end. The Treasury has agreed to convert a £400 million loan into repayable support spread over three years, but this merely smooths the cliff-edge rather than resolving the underlying shortfall.
Westminster committees have themselves acknowledged the problem. A Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report in April 2025 found public services “at risk of collapse” and called for funding “according to NI’s level of need.”
Questions for Stakeholders
- What specific fiscal powers is Minister O’Dowd seeking, and would the Treasury be likely to grant them?
- How do other Executive parties view this negotiating strategy, and is there genuine cross-party consensus on revenue-raising measures?
- What would constitute a “fair” funding settlement in concrete terms—an uplift of what magnitude, and against what baseline?
- Given the Assembly elections due by May 2027, can any multi-year settlement be secured before a potential change of government?
- What reforms and transformations are ministers prepared to implement unilaterally if additional funding is not forthcoming?
The coming weeks will reveal whether this meeting produced any concrete progress, or whether it represents another restatement of familiar positions in an increasingly strained fiscal relationship.