We launched Progress Ireland today, a think tank whose mission is to connect Ireland to ideas that will help unlock its potential. What is, who are we, why did we do it?

👀👇 this is an excellent report. Hard-hitting but necessarily so. Let’s hope the messages hit home and that the next PivotalPPF reports more positive actions and achievements by our Executive.

Today I was on Nolan repeating the argument I made in @beltel last week, that Stormont is in such a mess they need to begin again with a blank sheet of paper, building up from scratch the priorities. Existing budgets are skewed towards pet projects, not core priorities.

A very well worthwhile-reading report from PivotalPPF At some point the Executive has to move from the asinine photo-opportunities and clichéd blah-blah press releases and agree a PfG which both addresses and makes the difficult decisions. pivotalppf.org/cmsfiles/Publi…

A Programme for Government (PfG) may be published soon by the Northern Ireland Executive. But what makes for an effective PfG? Check out Pivotal's one-pager on what's important pivotalppf.org/cmsfiles/NewsE…

9 immediate priorities in draft Prog for Govt 1. globally competitive & sustainable economy 2. affordable childcare 3. health waiting times 4. support for SEN 5. ending VAWG 6. social & affordable housing 7. safer communities 8. Lough Neagh & environment 9. public service reform

Useful thread on first reactions. Public service reform crucial, but this is the ball that's consistently dropped over the years. Also, any targets need to be closely linked to ambitious outcomes - we've had claims of incremental change for years, but little meaningful change.

Good thread from PivotalPPF on what we know about draft programme for government & its enactment. Public sector reform critical #Change

"It needs to show that it is prepared to make tough financial decisions, implement reform that could well cause short term pain for long term gain, manage finances and if needed raise revenue." Good piece from Allison Morris as we wait for more detail on Prog for Govt on Monday

“an economic car-crash for our industry” @IrishNews reporting towns most affected by the Wastewater ‘crisis’. Critical PfG includes a wastewater action plan. “real fear.. the crisis will result in an industry-wide recession” David McWilliams Alex.Kane irishnews.com/news/northern-…

Ann Watt spoke to The Nolan Show, BBC this morning about what we know so far about the Executive's Programme for Government. On Monday we expect to see much more detail about what the nine priorities mean in practice e.g. implementation plans, funding, data, targets and accountability

Analysis of public finance challenges in Scotland from David Phillips Institute for Fiscal Studies - up to £500m of spending cuts needed in order to fund public sector pay increases and other pressures