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NI ministers seek financial help

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008 13:50:59

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Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness will be accompanied by Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy and Finance Minister Nigel Dodds.

On Tuesday, the DUP and Sinn Féin came to an agreement on the devolution of policing and justice powers.

The Executive will now meet on Thursday for the first time in five months.

The deferral of water charges, back pay for civil servants and the need for a package for people suffering from the economic downturn has left a massive hole in the Executive budget.

The delegation will be pressing the prime minister to fill it.

Thursday's Executive meeting will discuss the first draft of a paper detailing measures to try to deal with the financial hardship being faced by many in Northern Ireland and will want to know how much money they will have available.

They believe there has been movement from the prime minister already on the issue, but remains to be seen if it's enough.

One source told the BBC: "We want the prime minister to help the Executive to help the people."

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie will also be in London for talks on winter fuel payments with Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell.

Meanwhile, the US deputy secretary of state has welcomed the deal on the devolution of policing and justice.

John Negroponte met representatives of all the political parties on Tuesday.

He said he was not concerned at the lack of a specific date for the transfer of powers.

"There's a desire to move ahead expeditiously with the implementation," he said.

"I met with the first minister and the deputy first minister together and they both said they want to implement this as fast as possible."