The Ulster Unionist Party’s Tourism spokesperson, Alan Chambers MLA, has described the failure of the Executive to provide the funding assurances necessary for the Commonwealth Youth Games to formally handover to Northern Ireland for the 2021 Games, as an embarrassment and a reminder of the urgent need to restore devolved government.

Alan Chambers said:

"Last month my Party Leader Robin Swann and I attended a meeting called by the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council which was prompted by fears that Northern Ireland would not be able to host the 2021 Youth Games due to a lack of political and financial support. We described it as an intolerable situation, given that the five main parties at Stormont had twice voted in the Assembly to support a bid to host the 2021 Commonwealth Youth Games.

“Today it has been confirmed that with five days to go until the closing ceremony the 2017 Games in Bahamas, there will be no official handover to Northern Ireland’s representatives due to the failure of the Stormont Executive to support the Games.   

“It is simply not good enough that political stalemate in Northern Ireland is affecting so many aspects of life here. The health service, education system and the community & voluntary sector are all in desperate need of direction from locally elected Ministers. Here we have another example of what happens when politicians here cannot agree.

“These Games offer a wonderful opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland to a global audience with all the associated benefits in terms of terms of tourism and positive PR.

“As was pointed out last month, the local Party leaders have supported bids to host the UEFA Super Cup in 2019 and the Rugby World Cup in 2023. Given that we have already given our backing to host the Commonwealth Youth Games, this issue should not prove difficult to resolve but the ongoing uncertainty is tangible proof of the real impact of the political stalemate here.”