The Conservative Party has finally struck a deal with the DUP, promising what was until recently an elusive “magic money tree” in exchange for the unionist’s support on key votes in parliament.
 
So, what has actually been agreed and will the deal mean for Northern Ireland?
 
Snippets of the agreement, it’s worth mentioning, appear to collide with our parked political situation; ahead of the UK government’s deadline for local parties to get Stormont ‘back up and running’, question marks surround whether this money can be utilised as much as we hope.
 
Let’s look closer at the deal.
 
Economy & Infrastructure
 
The agreement aims at delivering long-overdue infrastructure projects such as the York Street Interchange; surplus funds are also available and could be invested into projects such as our sub-standard rail network or the A5.
 
Other elements include fair job distribution and investment into delivering City Deals.
 
The inclusion of £20m per year to target severe deprivation sounds promising, yet we will have to wait to see how the Executive intends to spend this. The Executive’s objective of delivering an anti-poverty strategy has proved problematic in the past, for instance, due to political disagreement over the definition of ‘objective need’.
 
Health & Education
 
Given the current state of our health system, from lengthy waiting lists to unrealistic work pressures on NHS staff, £50m allocated by this deal will seek to address these issues with immediate effect.
 
An additional £50m set aside for mental health provision will also be welcomed.
 
Of course, additional funds for education are much needed, but how funds are allocated will no doubt raise political eyebrows as all three school sectors – Catholic maintained, State schools and Integrated schools – fight for more resources.
 
Legacy
 
The greyest area of all is agreement surrounding legacy issues. Interesting is the agreement’s statement that legacy bodies are to be “fair, balanced and proportionate”; a much more nuanced stance than we are used to from the DUP. The pledge underpinned in the document will be worth monitoring, as parties here continue to disagree over the definition of a “victim” of past conflict.
 
Remember, whilst the agreement looks promising, so much of its implementation relies on the ability of parties to bring back power-sharing at Stormont.
 
Should this happen, how the money is spent will be another important matter of interest. Before the collapse of the Assembly in January, the last Executive’s Programme for Government had looked towards an ‘outcome based accountability’ model in relation to spending. Should Theresa May’s magic money tree simply help plug gaps in Stormont’s pockets, the benefit could be felt by few.