{"id":229872,"date":"2025-07-01T17:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/229872\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:38:10","slug":"oneill-told-photo-ops-not-enough-as-sdlp-attack-executive-record-of-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/229872\/","title":{"rendered":"O\u2019Neill told \u2018photo-ops\u2019 not enough as SDLP attack Executive record of delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle O\u2019Neill has been told that \u201cstaged photo-ops and platitudes\u201d are no longer enough as the SDLP criticised the \u201cwoeful\u201d record of delivery of the Stormont Executive.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Matthew O\u2019Toole clashed with the First Minister at the Assembly, telling her that if the Dublin Government had her record of delivery, it would have been \u201croasted\u201d by Sinn Fein.<\/p>\n

He also told Ms O\u2019Neill that she was an \u201celected leader, not a royal\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the First Minister hit back, accusing the SDLP of negativity and not having credible alternatives or ideas.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

She insisted that the powersharing Executive has laid \u201cstrong foundations\u201d to build upon in the future, as she answered questions in the Assembly for the final time before summer recess.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Toole said: \u201cIn 2022, you asked for, and received, a very personal mandate to lead the Executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromises were made before and after the Executive was formed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SDLP Stormont leader said the Executive had so far failed to deliver on upgrading the A5 or rebuilding Casement Park and said Sinn Fein and the DUP had voted to block action needed to deal with the environmental emergency at Lough Neagh.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Toole added: \u201cI could give lots of other examples of, I am afraid, woeful failure of delivery, but in the spirit of the end of term, First Minister, can I ask you how do you think it is going?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Neill said: \u201cThere is no doubt that the Executive and every minister in the Executive faces enormous challenges as the result of years of under-funding, austerity budgets, crushed public services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every minister around that Executive table is there to do their best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every minister around that Executive table is there to try and work in a collective effort to address some of the challenges we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you do everything immediately? No, you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you lay strong foundations to build upon? Yes, you can and that is what I believe we have done in this first year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Toole responded: \u201cStaged photo-ops and platitudes aren\u2019t enough any more. You are an elected leader, not a royal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlaming others when your own ministers have failed to do the basics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government in Dublin had the delivery record of the government you lead here, your party would have rightly roasted them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of the north deserve much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I suggest when this place returns, you and the rest of the Executive need to do much, much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Neill said she had heard nothing but negativity from the SDLP.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWhile the rest of us are getting on, no solutions, no credible proposals, no ideas from the funded and resourced opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not interested in the blame game, I am interested in trying to deliver for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michelle O\u2019Neill has been told that \u201cstaged photo-ops and platitudes\u201d are no longer enough as the SDLP criticised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-229872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114779200273216848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229872","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=229872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}