Dear Madam, - I am writing this letter in response to a formal warning to the Northern Ireland Executive regarding the on-going budget crisis. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere anger at the Assembly’s failure to implement the on-going Stormont House Agreement.

As a result of the failure to implement the Stormont House Agreement, The Northern Ireland Executive is losing approximately two million a week, leaving a devastating 600 million black hole in our local economy, affecting crucial public services such as education and health.

It is extremely important that the 90 million agreed for Welfare Reform is implemented because it is crucial for those suffering in our communities, such as the most deprived and the severely disabled.

When the Stormont House Agreement was initially agreed, the Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness described it as a “remarkable achievement, with the opportunity to give the executive a fresh start”.

I really do question the sudden change of heart to the legislation that he once upheld. But we must ask the question why are both Sinn Fein and the SDLP blocking this important legislation through a Petition of Concern.

Both parties clearly state that they are “protecting the most vulnerable of society by blocking welfare reform”, but the reality is that they are actually exploiting them.

Through the Barnett Formula, Northern Ireland receives one of the most deliverable, sustainable budgets in the UK. If the Stormont House Agreement is not implemented urgently, it inevitably throws the future of the Northern Ireland Assembly into extreme uncertainty. Failure to implement this legislation will lead to the collapse of the Assembly, the Executive, Tourism, investment and the Good Friday Agreement in our country.

The real immediate costs and consequences of not implementing the Stormont House Agreement are too big for the people of Northern Ireland.

In recent years the Northern Ireland Assembly has proved a success, with nations all over the world investing in our country, Tourism has also proved a great success, recently with the Tall Ships event which brought thousands of people including myself from all over the world to our capital city.

To conclude, we can’t allow the Treasury to take back complete control over our finances in Northern Ireland. Can we really afford to step back in time?

Yours faithfully, Concerned Fermanagh Teenager