PAT Sheehan is among four Sinn Féin representatives aiming to take a West Belfast seat in May’s Assembly Election.

Mr Sheehan, who succeeded Gerry Adams as MLA for the area in 2010, will look to retain his seat for a fourth consecutive time.

Setting out his priorities ahead of the poll, he said the cost-of-living crisis is the “single biggest issue” in the election. He described the DUP’s collapse of the Executive as “scandalous”, noting that £300million in funding remains unspent as a result. He said the DUP decision means money can’t be given “to workers and families that need it”.

Asked why public money should go to pay energy giants and others, Mr Sheehan said his party are in favour of a “windfall tax” on multinationals, but said it is “beyond the control of Stormont to do anything about that”.

“They (multinationals) are the ones who should be stumping up to alleviate this,” he said.

He said Sinn Féin would press the British Government on the issue but stressed that the Tories do not “care about working people”.

The Andersonstown News noted that energy price hikes had occurred long before the DUP collapsed the Executive and asked why Stormont had not taken more steps to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis before then.

“We’re restricted in what we can do,” Mr Sheehan said.

He said a functioning Executive was needed to “allocate resources to people”, arguing that Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey had moved to do so.

“We can’t do everything,” he said.

The West Belfast rep said there were “blockages” in the DUP-run Economy Department, adding that there was a need for “agreement within an Executive".

He stated that the British Government, which sets the overall budget for the North “isn’t concerned about raising the standard of living for everybody”, condemning its moves to increase National Insurance tax.

Regarding the Stormont Executive handing money back to Westminster in recent years, he stressed difficulties in dealing with an “annual budget”, noting that project delays meant that some monies were “not paid out” in time.

The Sinn Féin rep criticised the Economy Department, which he said, “should have been handing out money” during the crisis. He described the handing back of £44million by the DUP’s Education Minister as “criminal”.

In 2021, it emerged that the Department of Health handed back £90million. In January 2022 the Sinn Féin-run Department for Communities (DfC) was found to have returned £50million in the last financial year.

On West Belfast, it was put to Mr Sheehan that for over 20 years Sinn Féin had been the dominant electoral force in the area which remains the most deprived Assembly constituency in the North. The statistic is included in an Assembly Research and Information study of the latest NISRA Multiple Deprivation stats.

Mr Sheehan said the Whiterock area, which NISRA previously listed as most deprived ‘Super Output Area’ in the North, had “moved off the bottom in everything except health outcomes”.

“There is still a massive amount of work that needs done in West Belfast – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

He pointed to rising employment and investment in local initiatives and buildings such as the Innovation Factory, the former St Comgall’s School, and Áras na bhFál.

Mr Sheehan expressed hope that “Casement will get the go-ahead” and “create more jobs”.

He criticised a lack of investment by Invest NI in West Belfast, stating that his party had challenged the arm’s length body on this shortcoming.

The Sinn Féin man highlighted housing projects such as Glenmona, the former St Thomas’ School site and Ross Street.

“Jobs are important, the economy is important, but the houses that people live in are the basic first step in all of that,” he said.

West Belfast is also the constituency worst-affected by the housing crisis, with over 4,000 applicants on the housing waiting list. Mr Sheehan raised Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey’s pledge to build 100,000 social and affordable homes in the next 15 years. The Housing Supply Strategy could see the Housing Executive’s Landlord Function privatised, thereby enabling it to borrow money and build homes.

Polls suggest the coming election could see Sinn Féin become the largest party in Stormont. Unionist parties have yet to confirm if they will serve under a Nationalist First Minister, casting doubt over the return of the Assembly.

The DUP has stated it will not return to the Executive without the removal of the Irish Sea Border.

“I think it’s disgraceful in the current climate we’re in, with the cost-of-living crisis and all other difficulties we face,” Mr Sheehan said of the DUP position.

“Whatever argument they have around the protocol has nothing to do with the other parties in the Executive. It’s an issue for the UK Government and the EU Commission, and those negotiations are going on.

“From the outset it has been dishonest from the DUP and unionists in general to try to suggest that the protocol has nothing to do with Brexit, and they’re in no way responsible.

"They were crying out for the hardest possible Brexit possible.”

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