The Stormont executive is not properly supporting the community and voluntary sectors, leaving them to fight over “funding scraps”, the Church of Ireland and Catholic Archbishops of Armagh have said.
Though broadly welcome of the draft programme for government, published in September seven months after the executive was revived, Archbishop John McDowell and Archbishop Eamon Martin say it is a mistake to not back those “who make a real difference, especially to the most disadvantaged among us”.
“Our pastoral work brings us into regular close contact with many in the voluntary and community sector who generously offer their gifts, day after day, to build hope and support social cohesion,” they say in a joint opinion piece published today in The Irish News and Belfast Telegraph.
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“They are the ‘glue of society’ and we share their concern that the draft programme for government does not appear to sufficiently recognise their essential contribution to health, education, peace and reconciliation, to the arts, sports and charitable activities, without which the government’s key priorities will never come good or bear full fruit.”
However, they point out how in recent years “many such groups and organisations have had to suspend their activities or have struggled to survive because their contribution is so taken for granted that they find themselves competing with each other for the funding scraps left over”.
The Archbishops do welcome the optimistic tone of the draft programme, describing it as a “change to the often stagnant and stultifying rhetoric that characterised political commentary here while the assembly was suspended”.
“Our task is to not wallow in disillusionment or cynicism but to do our bit to encourage, work and pray for ‘the coming good’,” they add.
Many community and voluntary groups and organisations have had to suspend their activities or have struggled to survive because their contribution is so taken for granted that they find themselves competing with each other for the funding scraps left over
— Archbishop John McDowell and Archbishop Eamon Martin
Reflecting on a visit to Brussels, they say they hope that the Windsor Framework and Safeguarding the Union deal are used “in good faith to rebuild relationships and jointly iron out the issues which will continue to arise as a result of the complications of Brexit”.
Caring for the sick is a touchstone of a “truly civilised and compassionate society”, the Archbishops say, with a challenge to the executive over the appalling pressures facing health and social care: “The most tangible and reassuring way of progress on this front would be in shorter waiting lists and meaningful value and respect both for the carers and the cared-for.”
Efforts by executive ministers to promote interest in the draft programme for government have been lacklustre and an eight-week public consultation closes on Monday. The plan has been widely criticised for its vagueness and broad-brush approach to the challenges facing Northern Ireland after years of austerity and suspension at Stormont.
