Don Peebles, head of devolved administrations at CIPFA, said: ‘The Northern Ireland executive drastically needs to improve its public financial management. Indeed, the reason for the 2017 election is, in part, the result of a series of already well-publicised governance failures.

‘It is time to put public services on the right financial footing again, as only through good governance can Northern Ireland deliver modern and progressive public services. Core principles have to be established that will protect those services from corruption and help the people of Northern Ireland regain confidence in public bodies and their leaders.

‘The newly elected assembly needs to put the public interest at the heart of its agenda straightaway and keep it there as the foundation of its decision making going forward.’

The overspend relates to issues with the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme which was set up in 2012 by Arlene Foster, more than three years before she became Northern Ireland first minister and leader of the DUP. Controversy over the scheme, which has paid out substantially more in claims that originally forecast, was a key factor in the collapse of the executive at the start of the year.

CIPFA says the newly elected executive must re-assert responsible and ethical governance principles. It suggests that any outgoing ministers must work with their replacements to set out strategic outcomes for public service bodies. CIPFA believes that in order to realise these outcomes, there must be measurable improvements in performance.

To achieve financial sustainability, the Northern Ireland executive must assess the available resources and how they can be best applied to meet the needs of its population, including an appraisal of the future funding needed to support the delivery of health and social care.

CIPFA advocates that the remit for a new fiscal council, which was proposed in the Fresh Start Agreement, should be established. This remit should include powers to develop its own independent long-term financial forecasts. CIPFA claims the council would be able to effectively support the devolution of further tax and borrowing powers by monitoring and scrutinising the finances of the Northern Ireland executive.

CIPFA believes that the newly elected assembly should use Brexit as an opportunity to reassess the devolved powers and funding mechanisms to better serve local communities, as by devolving further powers, some of which will be regained from the EU, the executive may be able to more successfully manage public services and grow the local economy. As well as this, CIPFA believes that the Barnett formula should be replaced with a funding mechanism that takes account of local need.