One of the main priorities of any Government, or regional Assembly, is the health of its people. This is the background to today’s important Stormont session which is considering a request from Health Minister Michael McGimpsey for an extra £55m to help combat swine flu.

So far, some 70,000 cases have been confirmed in 112 countries worldwide, where there have been 311 deaths. There are more than 6,500 cases in the United Kingdom, and the projections suggest that by the end of the autumn there could be a total of 500,000 cases throughout Britain and Northern Ireland.

The health authorities have underlined that while the symptoms are usually mild, they can be severe in a small minority. Because the symptoms in most cases are mild, the public can be lulled into a sense of false security about the implications of this growing pandemic. It is important to remember, however, that health experts do not yet know whether the strain will become more virulent, with obvious consequences.

It seems eminently reasonable that Michael McGimpsey is doing all in his power to help the population to deal with swine flu, and to mitigate its effects. Such measures are not cheap, and the Minister and his officials estimate that the outbreak in Northern Ireland will cost at least £55.3m to combat.

Mr McGimpsey, in theory, has a choice. He could try to find this new money by making cutbacks in his current budget, which he says would be |“intolerable” and would cause much pain. His alternative is to ask the Northern Ireland Excutive for funding to meet a situation of “national emergency”, which the current pandemic clearly represents.

Surprisingly, however, this money has not yet been found, and Mr McGimpsey claims he has been told that he should wait until September, when the Assembly returns from its summer recess, which begins today. The flaws in this are obvious. If there is a two month delay, the situation could be worse in the autumn, and no-one knows for sure what form the swine flu will have developed by then.

In September it may be a case of too little, too late, and there is a compelling argument for the Assembly providing the necessary funding today. This is

not easy, as there are many other deserving claimants, but if the pandemic of swine flu is not a priority for our Stormont politicians, what else is?

As it happens, two DUP ministers are closely involved in this current stand-off. Sammy Wilson’s spokesman has declined to comment on documents “which have still to be dealt with by the Executive”. The spokesman also indicated that while the former Minister Nigel Dodds had made representations to the Treasury for extra help, the negotiations “are continuing.”

This is a classic ploy. It would appear that either the DUP ministers have nothing at present to say on this issue, or it partly represents yet another example of political rivalling between the DUP and the UUP, of which Mr McGimpsey is a leading member.

The Health Minister has made a persuasive case for extra funding. The Executive should provide this without further ado, before embarking on a long recess which might have untold consequences if nothing is decided today. This is not a time for playing politics.