I find it disgraceful yet another family has been let down by the current school placement protocol. Another mother left with a pit in her stomach as her child hasn’t gone to school today & awaits answers from the EA. It is shameful. Answers to this annual crisis urgently needed!

I know it doesn’t help every family but after years plugging away on childcare, buzzing to get messages this week from people seeing real & right now chunks off childcare bills from this month. Politics isn’t making enough good change in people’s lives & I want that to change.

A Programme for Government, should one belatedly emerge, has to be more than hundreds of pages of officialese and verbiage. It needs to have a finite number of clear targets and specific actions for the public to understand. We need delivery - not more waffle. Me earlier 👇

Ministers don’t get a pat on the back for doing the most basic aspect of their jobs, especially when they haven’t told us what they’ve agreed. People on waiting lists, families trying to get SEN assessments, we all deserve to know what this Executive will actually do.

"Being in Government can’t simply be about holding office, it has to be about improving lives. Ministers have said a lot but not done very much. That has to change, quickly." Matthew O'Toole m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/commen…

Following the close of nominations, Claire Hanna has received the required support from SDLP Branches and Support Groups. A motion to ratify Claire as the next SDLP Leader will be tabled before members at the Annual Conference on 5th October. Join us - sdlp.ie/join_the_team

Proud to launch our Plan for Change today. It's now vital that the public get the clearest possible sense of what the Executive plans to do, and when. Warm words won't be enough.

Regional inequality must be addressed once and for all, particularly for places like Derry. The Programme for Government makes some references to those imbalances but we need to go much further. Warm words are no substitute for binding legislation on the whole of government 👇

Across the North groups like Women's Aid NI are underfunded & rely on charity fundraisers to support victims. Meanwhile, in the South, £50million is rightfully being invested to end VAWG. Why is this issue & women in the North not receiving the same urgency and investment?!

Launching the The SDLP Plan for Change today. Sets out our clear targets, but which has measurable actions the Executive could enact before the end of the mandate in 2027! Matthew O'Toole

‘Up to 10,000 students’ is a significant row back on the clear ambition to have a minimum of 10,000 students in Derry. Genuinely shocking that the Programme for Government is so blatantly LESS ambitious for Derry than what’s already agreed. Who gave them a mandate for this?

The public deserves clear targets in the Programme for Government. Sadly this document is light on substance, and fails to mention key areas including the establishment of an independent Environmental Protection Agency and the appointment of an Irish Language Commissioner.

Astounding that on their first day back, the Executive has blatantly downgraded its ambition for Derry. The whole PfG is actually embarrassing but people in our city will see through the sleight of hand on university places. We’re not having it.