Politicians in Northern Ireland have fiddled while the economy burns, a trade union rally heard on Friday.
Around 53,000 people are unemployed yet the Executive is squabbling over devolution of policing and justice, Irish Congress of Trade Unions assistant secretary Peter Bunting said.
Several hundred people gathered at Belfast City Hall to protest against alleged government inaction. There were other demonstrations across the country.
The Executive has put in place measures to protect apprentices while it has encouraged international companies to establish themselves here.
But Mr Bunting said: "We are here today to expose bloat, waste and time-serving at the heart of the public sector.
"I am talking about, of course, the people who rule us, who write the laws, frame the budget, those who serve in the Assembly and in Westminster.
"The people we elect who have fiddled while the economy burns."
He claimed the Executive was no longer fit for purpose and that more jobs and a vibrant private sector were required.
"We need more start-ups and we need to create more research and development," he added.
"We need to keep our graduates at home. We need to capitalise upon the creativity and humour and intelligence of our young and the experience and training of our older workers."
Hostile
Health Minister Michael McGimpsey braved a hostile crowd at the rally, amid fears over health service cuts.
Earlier this week the director of the CBI in Northern Ireland Nigel Smyth accused the Executive of passing the buck for delays to key projects.
Tangled responsibilities and political indecision were to blame for slow progress on the building of new schools and hospitals and a scrapped national stadium plan at the Maze, he added.
© Press Association