The North's First and Deputy First Ministers have hailed the Executive's first Programme for Government as "revolutionary and ambitious". They said it mapped out a "new, agreed direction addressing the real problems that Northern Ireland faces and creating more accountable government".
Introducing the 87-page draft document, which contains 230 actions concentrating on six priority areas, to the Assembly, Mr David Trimble said the public could now have a "clear understanding of what they can expect from the new administration", adding: "After almost 30 years of unaccountable direct rule, it will be a contract between government and the public."
Rather than setting priorities for the 11 government departments, the majority of action plans outlined in the programme required co-operation between different departments and agencies and being funded not out of departmental budgets but five special new Executive programme funds, the First Minister explained.
The funds, which cover social exclusion, public sector modernisation, new policies, infrastructure and children, will amount to over £300 million sterling over the next three years.
The programme's six priority areas focus on equality and social exclusion, health, education, the economy, external relations and government reform.
The Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, said ministers had to make difficult choices allocating scarce resources. "The key point is that these choices are being made here, through the democratic process, and a local accountable government is leading the change," he added.
During the Assembly debate following the launch of the programme, anti-agreement MLAs rounded on Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon, describing the document as "vacuous" and "devoid of any real content".
A DUP MLA, Mr Edwin Poots, criticised the prominence of North-South co-operation, in particular the possible setting-up of a cross-Border civic forum, as a "mere increase in bureau cracy".
Mr Trimble described Mr Poots's statement as a "knee-jerk reaction" and said each cross-Border body should be taken on its individual merit.
"For example, the encouragement of an all-Ireland energy market is actually extremely important from the point of view of trying to bring down energy costs in Northern Ireland," he said.
Of the Executive's £6 billion budget, only £11 million was being spent on cross-Border co-operation, the First Minister added.
Mr Mallon said anti-agreement MLAs seemed to favour a situation "where we all trip up to see a visiting minister under direct rule to make representations to him" rather than seeing local politicians being held accountable by their own electorate.
The former DUP minister, Mr Nigel Dodds, said he was "deeply disappointed" that the needs of victims seemed to have been neglected in the document. Mr Trimble rejected the claim, saying the programme set out five different actions benefiting victims, including a cross-departmental strategy to look after victims' needs. While welcoming the programme, the Alliance Party's deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, said it was regrettable that much of the document was "aspirational rather than actual".
Mr Trimble admitted the programme contained many aspirations rather than precise targets but insisted the number of such targets would increase as the document was being implemented.
The programme was, moreover, far beyond aspirational given that concrete provisions had been made for the majority of its targets in last week's budget, he added.
After an initial consultation period on the document, a revised budget will be presented and voted on in the Assembly in December. The consolidated programme will then be put to the Assembly for final agreement in February.
A UUP MLA, Mr James Leslie, noted that the programme did not deal directly with taxation on fuel. Mr Trimble said the issue was "unfortunately a very complex one" which was ultimately still being decided in London.
The programme would, however, target lobbying at Westminster as well as raising the issue at a North-South level and in Brussels, he said.