Stormont ministers to discuss fuel cost pressures

Stormont ministers will meet later on Thursday to discuss how to manage pressures facing farmers, businesses and households in Northern Ireland due to rising fuel costs.

The issue will be raised in the context of ongoing talks at the executive about a multi-year budget.

Ministers have repeatedly said they need additional resources from Westminster in order to balance their departmental budgets.

The government has provided the executive with additional funding worth £380m for public services over the next three years and has said that ministers must make "difficult" choices.

The first and deputy first ministers invited Northern Ireland Secretary to Thursday's executive meeting.

It is understood he will not be in Northern Ireland on Thursday, but will speak to the Stormont Finance Minister John O'Dowd from London.

Fuel costs have soared globally as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran.

On Tuesday, some roads and motorways in Northern Ireland were blocked by farmers protesting over the hike in fuel, energy and fertiliser costs.

Last week, the first and deputy first ministers wrote to the prime minister asking for a package of measures to support those under pressure in Northern Ireland.

The executive does not have major financial levers to intervene, and has insisted the responsibility lies with London.

It is understood that ministers will discuss a plan from Democratic Unionist Party Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, which aims to allocate £17m in home heating oil support for households in Northern Ireland.

That package of funding was announced by Westminster in March, but it needs executive approval before it can be delivered.

It is understood Lyons will present options for how to hand out the money, but has also asked the executive to increase the overall funding pot so that it can apply beyond those in "low income households".

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government was looking "more widely" at what it could do to provide support, but gave no detail of what that might amount to.

Discussions have been taking place since January in a bid to approve a budget for the next three financial years.

A multi-year budget would allow Stormont departments to plan longer-term spending and the executive has not agreed one for more than a decade.

But there are particularly acute pressures in the departments of health, education and justice that have made reaching agreement on it difficult.

A Stormont source said the executive was "stretched to breaking point" and that the current funding allocation was not enough over the next three years.

The executive is also exploring the option of agreeing a budget for 2026-27, but in the event that is the outcome, ministers would face returning to discussions before the end of the year to set a budget for 2027-28.

The timing of the next assembly election in May 2027 could complicate negotiations on a budget for that year.

It has repeatedly said the funding on offer to the executive is a "record settlement" from Westminster.

All the executive parties maintain that the allocation does not go far enough.

Stormont's finance minister has been making the case to the Treasury to restore the "stabilisation fund" - additional one-off funding which accompanied the restoration of devolution in 2024, which has now ended.

The Northern Ireland secretary has also continued to raise the prospect of Stormont carrying out its own methods of revenue raising, in order to help shore up public services.

This view was echoed in a research paper published by the Northern Ireland Assembly last month, which stated that significant revenue raising is "unavoidable".

However, proposals to do this such as introducing water charges and raising tuition fees have been widely rejected by the political parties so far.