The Northern Ireland Assembly approved the Baby Loss Certificate Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 and heard a major announcement of £102.6 million in public sector transformation funding during a busy sitting on Tuesday 26 May 2026. The session also featured heated members' statements on net zero targets, integrated education, and concerns about lenient sentencing for serious sexual offences.

Finance Minister John O'Dowd announced the second tranche of the Executive's transformation fund, allocating £102.6 million across six projects in health, communities, finance, and agriculture. The largest single allocation of £42 million goes to the Department of Health's ePharmacy primary care digital reform programme, which will digitise over 45 million prescription items annually and enable more than 500 community pharmacies to deliver expanded clinical services. A further £29.2 million was allocated for the Department of Health's Together for Families initiative, which will strengthen 29 family support hubs and is backed by an additional £30 million from the National Lottery Community Fund. The Minister said the total fund represented "another important milestone in the transformation journey".

Other allocations included £16 million for the Department for Communities' pathways to work and well-being proposal, £6 million for a digital workplace solution within the Civil Service, £5.3 million for a NISRA data linkage office, and £4 million for a bovine TB control pilot in the Department of Agriculture, supported by approximately £5.6 million from the Shared Island Fund. The Minister noted that five further projects recommended by the transformation board could not be funded within the existing £235 million envelope and that he intended to seek Executive agreement to support these once a multi-year Budget is agreed.

SDLP Finance Committee Chair Matthew O'Toole pressed the Minister on the absence of an agreed Budget, warning that without one, "the Executive will be imposing further austerity in public services here because we will be able to spend only a percentage of last year's Budget." O'Dowd defended the announcements, telling O'Toole he "continues in his guise as the glass-half-empty guy in the Assembly" and confirming that no transformation money had been lost to the Treasury, with all funding re-profiled by agreement. DUP MLA Deborah Erskine raised concerns about the pace of delivery from tranche one, particularly on planning reform, though the Minister clarified that the two DFI projects, flood management and recruitment of independent planning inspectors, were on track.

The Assembly then unanimously approved the Baby Loss Certificate Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, a final legislative step enabling the formal launch of a scheme allowing parents who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks to receive official recognition of their baby. Finance Minister O'Dowd said the regulations, shaped by more than 1,100 consultation responses, would help parents "start a hard conversation with a friend or family member" or "give them a way of reaching out for help in their grief." The scheme follows the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in February. Finance Committee Chair O'Toole paid tribute to officials and named some of the babies whose stories had been heard during Committee scrutiny, including Rosa, Matilda, Leanora, Eli, Dotty and Noah. DUP MLA Diane Forsythe, who said the issue was among the first she raised after joining the Assembly, asked the Minister to clarify the precise timelines for when parents would be able to apply for certificates.

During members' statements, DUP MLA Diane Erskine criticised Sinn Fein over Northern Ireland's climate legislation, arguing that warnings from the DUP and the UK's Climate Change Committee about the unworkability of a full net zero target had been ignored. She said that the First Minister's recent admission that the legislation may need revision was "a remarkable U-turn from a party that championed that legislation only a few weeks ago in the Chamber." Erskine linked the issue directly to the A5 road project, warning that rigid legislation risks "paralyses infrastructure investment" and "prevents the delivery of projects that save lives."

Alliance MLA Eóin Mathison raised concerns about integrated education, arguing that the Department of Education's report on demand for integrated schooling was "full of political spin" designed to downplay unmet demand. He cited survey data showing 55% of respondents would prefer to send their child to an integrated school, against only 8.4% of available places being integrated, and called on the Education Minister to "take the politics out of this." Mathison welcomed the launch of an integrated education support fund, but warned that refusing transformation proposals in areas where demand has been acknowledged amounted to "an exercise in gaslighting the public."

Two members raised concerns about sentencing following a case in England in which three boys received youth rehabilitation orders after raping two schoolgirls and posting footage on social media. DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley described the case as "an act of sadistic cruelty that falls so far short of what anybody should expect from our justice system" and linked it to proposals in Northern Ireland to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. UUP MLA Doug Burrows connected the case to a broader pattern of misogyny in schools, citing evidence of upskirting, cyber-flashing and sexual harassment of female teachers, and called on parents to take responsibility for what their children watch online.

Other members' statements highlighted the summiting of Mount Everest by Sarah Armstrong from Crossmaglen, described by Sinn Fein MLA Aisling Finnegan as "an inspiration to an entire generation"; the funding crisis facing Women's Aid in Fermanagh and South Tyrone; the pressure on schools supporting children with additional needs; the experiences of women harmed by pelvic mesh implants during Mesh Awareness Month; the needs of people with Tourette syndrome; the decline in children's swimming ability; and the importance of Coeliac Disease Awareness Month. DUP MLA Paul Frew also used his statement to criticise Sinn Fein's governance record, citing two by-election losses in the Republic of Ireland as evidence that "voters are not too much about the real issues" according to unnamed party sources.

The Assembly also received a public petition from Lagan Valley MLA Michelle Guy on behalf of Dromara residents calling on the Department for Infrastructure to introduce road safety improvements to the village, citing concerns about speeding and dangerous driving. The petition, signed by almost 400 residents, was forwarded to the Minister for Infrastructure and the Committee for Infrastructure.