Green Party Deputy Leader calls for end to DUP blockade of Stormont and immediate action on the cost of living crises.

Cllr Mal O’Hara said “ It is scandalous that today British Petroleum posted it’s biggest quarterly profits in fourteen years. Meanwhile households face continuously increasing fuel bills. It is expected that by the winter, these bills will be over £3,500 per year. British Petroleum is no outlier, as other big oil and energy companies post record profits. The continued addiction to fossil fuels means we accelerate toward a climate and biodiversity crises, people choose between heating and eating and a small number of shareholders make record profits. This is fundamentally wrong.”

Cllr O’Hara continued “The Green Party advocates the immediate restoration of the Universal Credit uplift which will support the most vulnerable continuously. This is a rainy windswept Island and there is no reason why we cannot be energy self-sufficient. Tidal, solar, onshore and off shore can meet our longer term energy needs. They will also provide skilled, well paid jobs and apprenticeships and help address poverty and inequality. The Executive have the powers to end our reliance on fossil fuels, alleviate the cost of living crises and address poverty and inequality. It is political will which is lacking.

“The DUP must end their boycott of the Executive and prioritise emergency action to support households in Northern Ireland. There is finance available to do so.”