Action needs to be taken to bring Northern Ireland's finances under control, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has said.
Earlier Mr Heaton-Harris met the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Jayne Brady to hear what progress has been made in talks with the political parties around challenges to the region's finances and public services.
He said he is "acutely aware" that the ongoing absence of a Stormont Executive is "exasperating the challenges facing all public services across Northern Ireland".
"Action needs to be taken to bring Northern Ireland's public finances under control and make them sustainable for future years, and the necessary decisions have not been taken by local leaders to ensure affordable public service transformation can take place, and now that is being felt in the most undesirable of ways by people across Northern Ireland," he told media in Belfast.
Mr Heaton-Harris said Northern Ireland will not be receiving a financial package without a programme for government in place.
Mr Heaton-Harris met Ms Brady today to discuss potential revenue raising measures to tackle the budgetary pressures in the region.
"Well you need a plan to do anything, and Northern Ireland has had over £7bn of extra funding since 2014 in different areas, on top of what it's had in Barnett consequentials and raised in its own regional rates," he said.
"So I think the time for just money being the answer to questions without actually having a proper programme for government is well and truly over, which is why that work is ultra important."
