{"id":1159632,"date":"2026-08-20T16:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1159632\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:51:27","slug":"robbie-butler-appointed-northern-ireland-minister-for-health-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1159632\/","title":{"rendered":"Robbie Butler appointed Northern Ireland Minister for Health \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP<\/a>) MLA Robbie Butler has been appointed Northern Ireland<\/a>\u2019s Minister for Health. <\/p>\n

Jon Burrows, the UUP leader, confirmed Butler\u2019s nomination on Thursday, saying he had \u201cmy full confidence and the full backing of our Assembly team\u201d.<\/p>\n

Butler, a former deputy leader of the party, said it was \u201can enormous privilege and an even greater responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n

An MLA for Lagan Valley, Butler replaces Mike Nesbitt<\/a>, who resigned on Tuesday amid a row<\/a> with Burrows over plans by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to close emergency general surgery services at the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Co Derry.<\/p>\n

Following a review and a public consultation last year, the trust recommended that such services should only be provided at one of its sites, Antrim Area Hospital, a move that requires final approval from the minister. <\/p>\n

Burrows last week told a public meeting in Coleraine that he did not support the change. \u201cI do not agree with it, and I will never agree with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his resignation letter, which he subsequently published on social media, Nesbitt said he was \u201cnot the sort of minister who is happy to discover the leader\u2019s view of issues under my purview by having to monitor the media\u201d. He accused Burrows of introducing a fresh \u201cred line\u201d in health.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why did the UUP\u2019s Mike Nesbitt resign as Northern Ireland\u2019s minister for health?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Burrows thanked Nesbitt for his service and said he was \u201cdisappointed that he has resigned, but I now need to look to the future\u201d. <\/p>\n

A former butcher who spent 16 years in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, Butler became an MLA in 2016 and currently chairs the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee at Stormont. <\/p>\n

In a statement following his appointment, he said he wanted Northern Ireland \u201cto have a world-class health service that people can access more quickly\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI take on this role with no illusions about the scale of the challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cThose problems will not be solved overnight, and I will not insult people by pretending otherwise. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy approach will be straightforward: listen most to the people who deliver and use our services, take decisions and be accountable for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler added that he intended to \u201cbuild on the momentum\u201d created by Nesbitt, \u201cwhile bringing my own ideas, energy and priorities to the role\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an enormous responsibility, but one I take on with determination and optimism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The permanent secretary at the Department of Health, Mike Farrar, on Thursday told an emergency meeting of Stormont\u2019s health committee there were many big issues facing the new minister, including staff pay, a challenging financial situation, and \u201ca reset agenda which we really cannot afford to lose time on.\u201d <\/p>\n

In regard to the future of emergency general surgery at the Causeway hospital, he said it was \u201cimportant to put on the record that no proposals had been taken at this point to ministers and no decision had been taken.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dr Alan Stout, chairman of the British Medical Association Northern Ireland Council, said the body would seek an early meeting with Butler to discuss the \u201curgent action required\u201d on a range of issues.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Alan Stout, chairman of the BMA Northern Ireland Council. Phhotograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister\u2019s immediate priority should be to implement in full the 2025\/26 … recommendation and commit to an additional above-inflation pay uplift for all doctors in Northern Ireland as part of a clear pathway towards full pay restoration,\u201d he said He also called for a \u201csustainable long-term funding solution\u201d for general practice in the North. <\/p>\n

Additional reporting \u2013 PA. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA Robbie Butler has been appointed Northern Ireland\u2019s Minister for Health. Jon Burrows,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1159633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[169732,23524,1144,28984,16,15719,15],"class_list":["post-1159632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-british-medical-association","tag-mike-nesbitt","tag-northern-ireland","tag-stormont-assembly","tag-uk","tag-ulster-unionist-party","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1159632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1159633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1159632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1159632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1159632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}