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Business

DODDS EXTENDS FREE ACCESS TO SME SKILLS PROGRAMME

Economy Minister Diane Dodds has announced that a skills development support scheme will remain free for businesses until the end of March 2022. Skills Focus is a post-employment training programme that is open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including social enterprises, with fewer than 250 employees. Last May the Minister announced that the usual […]

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Business

REGIONAL HUBS SIGNAL NEW ERA FOR CIVIL SERVICE – MURPHY

Finance Minister Conor Murphy has announced plans for a number of new civil service regional hubs. Commenting on the economic and environmental benefits, Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: “These regional hubs will transform how civil servants work – enabling them to be based closer to home, reducing travel time and lowering carbon emissions while importantly […]

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Business

LYONS ANNOUNCES £1MILLION MICRO FOOD BUSINESS SCHEME

A £1million capital grant scheme to help existing micro food and drink manufacturing businesses to upscale production to secure new markets for their products will open in March, Rural Affairs Minster Gordon Lyons MLA has announced. The aim of the scheme is to enable eligible businesses that are processing primary agricultural or horticultural produce to […]

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Business Politics

FINANCE MINISTER WELCOMES ADDITIONAL £300 MILLION TOWARDS COVID RESPONSE

Finance Minister, Conor Murphy has welcomed the announcement from Treasury which provides a further £300 million for the Executive which can be used this year or carried forward into the 2021/2022 financial year. Commenting Conor Murphy said: “I welcome this additional £300 million which will be used towards our Covid-19 response. “Along with Finance Ministers […]

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Business

MURPHY ANNOUNCES NEW RATE SETTING POWERS FOR COUNCILS

Finance Minister, Conor Murphy has put in place new legislation which will enable councils to tailor district rates to the needs of their local areas. This legislative change will for the first time give councils the option to strike different levels of household and business rates. The Finance Minister made the announcement following a recent […]

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Business Community

Try Yoga with Paddy to Beat the Lockdown Blues

Covid 19 has engulfed us into a lockdown of boredom and procrastination. However a lot of businesses are now offering the opportunity to avail of their services via zoom which looks like the new way of doing things moving forward. Yoga with Paddy a business headed up by Newry man Patrick Doran aims to provide […]

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Business

INNOVATION IS VITAL FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY: DODDS

Innovation is crucial for Northern Ireland’s economic recovery and to our future success locally and globally. That was the key message from Economy Minister Diane Dodds after she began a series of meeting with senior leaders from partner companies in the Belfast City Region Deal. The Minister’s first meeting focussed on the progress of two […]

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Business Uncategorized

LABOUR MARKET STATISTICS

The labour market statistics have been published by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency. Almost 10,500 redundancies proposed since March 11,000 collective redundancies were proposed in the twelve months to the end of December, more than double the number recorded in the previous twelve months. Almost 10,500 were proposed in the ten months since […]

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Business Newry

Matt D’Arcy Irish Whiskey toasts £100,000 launch sales

The once world-famous Whiskey brand, D’Arcy’s Old Irish Whiskey, has enjoyed a spectacular return after a century with launch retail sales topping £100,000 in the Christmas trading period. Matt D’Arcy and Co was first established in 1817 in Newry, gaining a global reputation, before closing in 1918.   The brand has now been revived by local […]

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Business Uncategorized

DODDS WELCOMES DECISION TO EXTEND FURLOUGH UNTIL APRIL

Economy Minister Diane Dodds today welcomed the decision by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme by another month until the end of April 2021. The Minister said: “I welcome the Chancellor’s decision to extend the Job Retention Scheme to the end of April. It has been my consistent position that the furlough […]

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Business Community

MURPHY RESPONDS TO FUNDING FOR VITAL PEACE PLUS PROGRAMME

Finance Minister, Conor Murphy today welcomed the announcement that additional funding of over £200million has been allocated to the Peace Plus programme. In recent months, Minister Murphy has been calling on the British Government to increase their contribution to the programme and has repeatedly highlighted the importance of the fund for peace and reconciliation initiatives. “The […]

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Business Uncategorized

£292.7MILLION ISSUED IN DIRECT PAYMENTS

More than 99% of farmers in Northern Ireland have received their full Direct Payment for 2020, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots MLA has announced. The total amount of Direct Payments issued by DAERA for the 2020 scheme year is £292.7million. Commending the Department’s performance, Minister Poots said: “I am pleased to announce that full Direct Payments […]