BY NEIL JARDINE

Three years following the collapse of the power-sharing assembly at Stormont and our politicians are back.

My thoughts on the matter are a mix of embarrassment, anger and incredulity over the lack of leadership and direction afforded to us by our politicians; but hey, we voted (or not) for them so maybe we only have ourselves to blame! And of course, they have been paid all this time for doing exactly what? Not to mention the cost of civil servants employed by a dormant Assembly and the expenses claimed by absent MLAs for their constituency offices.

Meanwhile, in the real world where the rest of us attempt to operate within the rules they set, two pillars of a modern, caring and progressive society, education and healthcare are in meltdown. Whilst I would not normally be a supporter of strike action in general, what other choice had our nurses over the past weeks to highlight the inequality in their salaries to those on the mainland; oh, and those who occupied the picket lines were docked pay for not working that day, unlike our MLAs.

The ever decreasing budgets for schools added to the ever increasing costs are impacting directly on the next generation, with over 50 per cent of schools in the province operating in deficit. This year the amount schools received for each pupil was increased by five per cent but this was quickly offset and more by an increase of 7.4 per cent in employer pension contributions. I have been Chairman of the Board of Governors at Enniskillen Integrated Primary School for the past 14 years and these pressures are more acutely felt as we hold grant maintained status, meaning unlike controlled schools, we are directly responsible for our own budgets, bringing running a school on par with a small business. You can’t have a class, or 14 in our case, without a teacher, so how else do you save money – cut back on resources, switch off the heat, bring your own toilet roll? Whilst this may sound flippant or dramatic to some, unfortunately these are the choices having to be made in many schools.

And what may you ask, will the return of Stormont be able to do to relieve this situation if there is not enough money in the budget to fund the required increases in these two sectors alone. Simple, ministers can make decisions that civil servants can’t, so after three years of nothing, there are a lot of decisions to be made. Maybe all that salary accrued over the last three years will cover all the overtime that will be needed to get the country up and going again, or is that just wishful thinking?