EP15: Lets have a chat with the Finance Minister, Conor Murphy 🎤🎧

This is a special edition of the podcast, where I get to speak to the Finance Minister, in the N Ireland Executive.  In what is a wide ranging and very interesting conversation, I speak to Conor about the role of his department, it's responsibilities to the executive, and what is expected of him in terms of his own skills and characteristics, to fulfil the job to the best of his ability.  We then discuss what it costs to run N Ireland, what we collect in taxes and also what the subvention is from Westminster, according to the office of National Statistics.   Conor goes into some detail around this, and highlights the fact that it's now accepted amongst many in political life here, that it is actually very difficult to find our what exactly is the cost to run N Ireland, as the exercise is carried out for accounting purposes only, by London. The vagueness around this cost, be it £6BN and £10BN is something that will require further investigation and need solving, particularly when most people accept we are a few years away from a border poll on the island, which may change the constitutional position of N Ireland.  We then lift the bonnet on the funding provided by the British government to deal with the cost of Covid to our economy,   The Finance minister again, is very open with the figures, and sets out we have received £2.2BN to date from London, and that this money has to last to the end of our financial year, which is March 2021.   I put it to the Finance Minister that this sum of support falls way short of what other countries have access to, namely Republic of Ireland and Austria, which he agrees with me on, airing his frustrations around same.  One of the most concerning take aways for me, at this point of the conversation, was the fact that the British government are simply not investing or putting in place the right level of support for our economy and country to survive and thrive over the next few years. I was alarmed to find out that the Stormont executive had agreed a new level of funding in January 2020 with the British Government in the "New Decade New Approach agreement", given the previous nine years of austerity, only for the British government to reneg on those commitments within a few days.  These kinds of moves and the lack of financial support is deeply concerning and should be for all of us.  We wrap up the conversation by Conor telling us that it is the "deficit of the lack of determination, which is the main reason why he is in politics." A keen cook, a passion for exercise and the outdoors, Conor finishes up our conversation telling me that its his family life, that makes all of this worthwhile. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you do to. If you want to contact me, you can get me on [email protected]  Thanks to CLEARPATH FINANCE - the sponsors of this episode www.clearpathfinance.co.uk Look after yourself, and each other CD 💰🌾