Ministers are already due to discuss funding issues this week, in what is known as a monitoring round.
These are financial exercises carried out by the executive several times a year, involving the reallocation of unspent funds by departments, as well as new money which flows from Westminster spending decisions.
Last month’s Budget at Westminster saw the government allocate £370m to Stormont over the next three financial years – O’Dowd later clarified that only £18.8m is available for use over the rest of this year.
The executive has also been asked to consider another funding pressure – the issue of compensation for a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data breach two years ago.
It could cost about £120m and the Treasury has rejected repeated requests from the executive for help with it.
Last week Justice Minister Naomi Long wrote to executive colleagues asking for support on a way forward, to ensure costs do not rise further.
She suggested that the executive should prioritise funding from its budget for next year (2026/27) in order to allow the PSNI to begin negotiations on a universal offer and prevent costs from rising further.
It is not clear whether all executive parties are backing this proposal, but the minister said neither her department nor the PSNI could absorb the associated costs.
However, agreement to ring-fence the money from the overall budget for next year will exacerbate pressures in the executive’s starting position for 2026/27.
