Northern Ireland along with the rest of the United Kingdom has seen substantial reductions in public expenditure since the financial crisis of 2008. The Northern Ireland Executive has seen its spending power decline through reductions in the block grant.The attempts it has made tosafeguard expenditure in certain areas like Health has resulted in significant reductions in other areas.In order to become more fiscally sustainable Northern Ireland needs public investment to buildproductivity enhancing growth. This requires significant investment the scale of which will only be met by public expenditure. Further reductions in public investment will only entrenchNorthern Ireland’s already weakened position.
