As the Northern Ireland Assembly reconvened this September after its summer break, the mood at Stormont was a curious mix of cautious optimism and mounting anxiety. The schools had already been back for weeks, but for the region’s politicians, the real test of the new term was just beginning, with a daunting agenda piled high with complex challenges, simmering tensions, and the ever-present specter of public dissatisfaction.
According to the BBC, assembly members (MLAs) returned to Parliament Buildings on September 8, 2025, facing a landscape transformed by a summer of record-high racist attacks. The violence, which had spilled over in several communities, prompted immediate calls for political leadership. On September 4, following the first executive meeting after the break, First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly took a united public stance. Both condemned the attacks and voiced their frustration, but the unity was only skin-deep. Their respective parties—Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)—remain sharply divided over how immigration and asylum should be managed. This issue, reserved for Westminster but deeply felt in local communities, is expected to dominate debates and party conferences in the coming weeks, with the DUP’s conference leading off in September. The two leaders are scheduled to appear before the Executive Office committee on September 10, where the topic is sure to resurface.
Yet, as highlighted in a new tracker report from the independent think tank Pivotal (as reported by Belfast Live), the Executive’s problems go well beyond any one headline. The first 18 months of the current mandate have been marked by what Pivotal calls “stability but little sense of real transformation.” The report is blunt: while the Executive has managed to avoid the collapses that marred previous governments, progress on crucial issues has been sluggish at best. Health waiting lists continue to grow—over half of patients now wait more than a year for a first outpatient appointment. The special educational needs (SEN) system remains in crisis, despite a modest reduction in children without a school place this summer. Social housing targets are being missed, and the housing supply strategy, though ambitious on paper, is falling short in practice. As Pivotal warns, “If the Executive cannot translate its ambitions into delivery, it risks reaching the end of the mandate with little to show beyond promises and process.”
Legislation, too, reflects the tension between ambition and reality. Since the Assembly reconvened in January 2024, several bills have received Royal Assent, but most have been routine budgetary measures or technical adjustments. The Department of Finance has pushed through multiple budget bills, some covering two financial years at a time, while the Communities Minister has legislated on pensions and child support enforcement. The Health Minister brought forward a short bill to delay the ban on hospital car parking charges. These are necessary, but as the Pivotal report notes, “few would regard them as transformative.”
The real legislative workload lies ahead. About ten bills are currently winding their way through Stormont’s legislative process, including laws for sign language protections and compensation for survivors of mother and baby homes. Justice Minister Naomi Long is expected to introduce a wide-ranging sentencing bill in the coming months, aiming to tighten sentencing laws and toughen up hate crime legislation. Other significant proposals in the pipeline include the Justice Bill (covering DNA retention, youth bail, and police live links), the Sign Language Bill (granting long-awaited recognition to both British and Irish Sign Language), the School Uniforms Bill, and the Baby Loss Bill. The Fiscal Council Bill and the Administrative and Financial Provisions Bill will test ministers’ willingness to embrace genuine financial reform, while the Inquiry and Redress Bill on Mother and Baby Institutions will demand both sensitivity and seriousness.
But perhaps nowhere is the Executive’s struggle to deliver more evident than in the ongoing saga over Casement Park. The redevelopment of the west Belfast GAA stadium has been a flagship project since 2011, yet it remains mired in uncertainty. The UK Government pledged £50 million in June 2025, but a funding gap of about £100 million persists. The Stormont executive is contributing £62.5 million, the GAA £15 million, and the Irish government about £43 million. Sports Minister Gordon Lyons has insisted that the GAA must increase its contribution and possibly redraw the plans to cut costs. All Stormont departments are clamoring for extra funding to meet their responsibilities, and with the next government budget scheduled for November 26, 2025, the pressure is on. Chancellor Rachel Reeves, after visiting Belfast over the summer, was left in no doubt about the executive’s demands for “equitable” funding—a refrain often met with a stony response from London that Northern Ireland is already receiving its fair share.
Meanwhile, the Executive’s ability to prioritize remains under scrutiny. The Programme for Government’s nine priorities—ranging from slashing hospital waiting times and improving childcare to protecting Lough Neagh and delivering affordable housing—are well chosen, but progress is slow. Infrastructure projects like the A5 upgrade have been delayed due to climate commitments, while efforts to improve water quality in Lough Neagh are running into opposition over the Nutrients Action Programme. These conflicts, as Pivotal observes, reveal an Executive that “tries to advance everything at once, but struggles to agree on priorities and trade-offs.”
Other contentious issues threaten to reignite old divisions. In March 2025, Sinn Féin’s Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins introduced Irish language signage at Belfast’s Grand Central Station at a cost of £150,000. The move triggered a legal challenge from unionists and DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, who argue that the matter should have gone to the full executive for approval. The High Court will hear the case on September 25. Kimmins, backed by First Minister O’Neill, insists executive sign-off was unnecessary. The outcome could strain relations between the main power-sharing partners at a delicate moment.
All of this is playing out as the clock ticks toward the next Assembly election, scheduled for May 2027. The stakes, as observers note, could hardly be higher. As Pivotal puts it, “Voters will not judge them on the number of Bills passed or the volume of strategies published, but on whether they can see and feel improvements in their daily lives.” That means shorter hospital waits, more affordable childcare, and visible progress on housing and infrastructure. The summer break may have offered a brief respite, but the hard work—and the scrutiny—has only just begun.
For Stormont’s politicians, the months ahead will be a test of whether stability can finally be translated into meaningful delivery. If not, the fear is that when the next election rolls around, the Executive will have little to show beyond a pile of unfulfilled promises and process documents—a prospect that, for many in Northern Ireland, would feel all too familiar.
