Northern Irish government in breach of anti-poverty obligation, court says

By Amanda Ferguson

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's power-sharing government is in breach of a nearly 20-year-old statutory obligation to develop an anti-poverty strategy, the region's high court found on Wednesday, putting further pressure on ministers to act.

The 2006 St Andrew's Agreement amended the law underpinning the 1998 Good Friday Peace deal to compel local politicians to adopt a poverty strategy. Poverty has worsened in that time as successive governments failed to put a plan in place.

The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) human rights group began proceedings in December, citing the lack of action since the regional assembly was restored following a two-year suspension in February 2024.

Northern Ireland's High Court had already ruled in 2015, in response to a CAJ complaint, that the executive was acting unlawfully by not adopting an anti-poverty strategy.

"This vindicates everyone that has been fighting for an anti-poverty strategy. It confirms once again that this isn't a policy decision, it isn't a nice to have, it is a legal obligation," the CAJ's Una Boyd said outside the court.

Judge Michael Humphreys said on Wednesday he was not satisfied that the CAJ had separately demonstrated that the Minister for Communities had thwarted the development of strategy.

A spokesperson for the British-run province's Department for Communities (DfC) said on Jan. 22 that it hoped to present a paper on a strategy to ministers "in the coming weeks".

According to 2024 government data published, 19% of Northern Ireland's population live in relative poverty. Separate research has shown that areas with Irish nationalist majorities are particularly afflicted by child poverty.

The law says the strategy must be based on objective need, meaning that resources cannot simply be allocated equally between unionist and nationalist communities if there are significant differences in poverty levels.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Paul Sandle)