NORTHERN IRELAND remains in the midst of a severe political, economic and public finance crisis driven by the ongoing neglect of the Conservative government which continues to fail in its obligations as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.  

Northern Ireland is currently experiencing austerity on overdrive. The Conservative government has failed to adequately fund public services in Northern Ireland resulting in a shortfall of £0.8 billion.  

As a result, unelected civil servants are progressing an extreme cuts programme which is shredding public services at an alarming rate with a severe and disproportionate impact on disabled people. 

The Conservative government has effectively facilitated this through powers granted under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation, etc) Act 2022.

The devastating cuts programme which is being taken forward in Northern Ireland has a cumulative and disproportionate impact on disabled people.  

Cuts to healthcare, social care, benefit administration, transport and housing adaptations all drastically impact upon the right to independent living. As a result, disabled people in Northern Ireland are bearing the brunt of ongoing governance failures. 

The cuts are happening in the midst of a cost-of-living emergency, when disabled people are making impossible choices between eating and running life-saving machinery in their homes.  

Disabled people have been calling for urgent action to protect the lives and rights of disabled people since the onset of the political crisis.  

These call for actions to ensure that disabled people have access to an adequate standard of living and are protected from the cost-of-living crisis have gone unheard as Northern Irish politics remains in gridlock while the Conservative government continues to neglect the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process. This lack of action is nothing more than contempt for the lives of disabled people.

The current political crisis erupted in February 2022 when the Democratic Unionist Party pulled its First Minister out of the Stormont Executive in a dispute over post-Brexit trading arrangements known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.  

Since the day of the Brexit vote, Northern Ireland has faced political and economic uncertainty. 

This most recent collapse of the executive effectively put an end to the hard-fought-for promise of a three-year budget, leaving Northern Ireland in a cycle of one-year budgets applied and implemented with no accountable oversight which has resulted in a profound fiscal crisis — public spending is being slashed, resulting in the irreparable grave and systematic violation of the rights of disabled people.   

Think tank Pivotal has warned that another £1bn in unfunded spending commitments remains unaddressed which can only mean further pain. 

Northern Ireland recently hosted an investment conference in which the key message is that Northern Ireland is “open for business” with a strong emphasis placed on downplaying the crisis. 

While there is a need to grow the economy, downplaying the political crisis is an insult in the context of the impact of the cuts, the health emergency, the housing emergency and the cost-of-living emergency.  

Northern Ireland society is falling apart at the seams and disabled people are starving while the red carpet is rolled out to potential investors.  

Cognitively it is hard to square positivity for investment with growing numbers of disabled people reliant on foodbanks alongside increases in the exploitation of disabled people by organised crime and/or paramilitary groups.  

Northern Ireland is in crisis. It is a struggle within Northern Ireland to provide access to basic services in the context of ongoing challenges with the budget.  

The Westminster government has responsibility for Northern Ireland for as long as it remains part of the union with Britain.   

This means ensuring that the people of Northern Ireland have access to services and an adequate standard of living.  

Action is required to protect the lives and rights of disabled people. Political squabbles over the Protocol or Windsor Framework should not take precedence over the right to life of disabled people.  

Continued cuts to support for disabled people living in the community have led to them becoming segregated away from society from within their own homes. 

Northern Ireland is about to enter another severe winter without a functioning government. Last winter the health service entered an emergency state and disabled people were advised to enter residential homes on discharge from hospital, demonstrating a complete disregard for the independence of disabled people.  

Never mind that the reinstitutionalisation of disabled people was occurring in the context of the ongoing Muckamore inquiry which was established to examine the issue of abuse of patients.

Austerity, neglect and the decimation of public services at the hands of the Conservative government have damaged the very fabric of Northern Ireland.  

The strength of a society is marked by its commitment to social justice. In 2023, in Northern Ireland there is no social justice.

Ellen Clifford is an activist with Disabled People Against Cuts and author of The War on Disabled People (Bloomsbury Publishing).