Last month, Bryant made an offer of a financial package worth about £1.5bn over the next three years.
But executive parties said it did not go far enough and have argued that significant gaps remain before they can agree to a deal that would allow them to set a budget.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme on Tuesday, O’Dowd said the British government “should be engaging with the executive and supporting the executive financially to deliver the services that are required for our public”.
He said it would be a “huge misstep by the British government” and a “huge interference in the devolved institutions in the Good Friday Agreement” if the secretary of state were to step in to set departmental budgets in the absence of a decision from the executive.
“The executive is here to set the budget and we have, quite rightly in my opinion, have been challenging the government… in a bid to receive a proper funding settlement which will allow us, in turn, to invest.”
“I am currently advised by legal advisers that in the absence of a budget I cannot authorise payment of public sector pay awards. I think that’s the next challenge for the executive, to ensure that public sector pay and pay increases are delivered,” O’Dowd added.
Speaking in the assembly on Monday, O’Dowd warned that without further funding there would be “damage to public services”.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
