Category: Uncategorized

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey appeared before the Committee for Communities to provide an update on her efforts to extend the existing welfare mitigation schemes and to close loopholes that can affect entitlement. Minister Hargey stressed her personal commitment to progressing the legislation at the earliest possible opportunity and informed the Committee that she has written […]

Health Minister Robin Swann has called on employers to show flexibility with employees over Covid-19 vaccination appointments. The Minister said it is vitally important that first and second dose appointments are kept: “We have an ongoing issue at present with people seeking to reschedule their second dose dates. “While this will obviously be unavoidable in some […]

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen has commented on the 2021 post primary transfer process. Addressing issues of concern for some pupils and parents the Minister said: “On Saturday 12 June almost 99% of our P7 children were notified that they were placed in a school of their preference and 85% were told they had gained a place […]

Health Minister Robin Swann is to reinstate the cross-border healthcare directive to the Republic of Ireland. The directive is a temporary measure for a 12 month period to help reduce Northern Ireland waiting lists and will be subject to strict criteria. The Minister said: “A key principle of our health service is that access to services […]

Following a lengthy battle with Covid 19 which is still continuing, the Northern Ireland executive agreed to a £500 NHS special recognition payment as a thank you to our amazing NHS staff. However thanks to extensive planning and negotiations from the Department of Health it has been revealed via their website that they are on […]

Finance Minister, Conor Murphy has today announced a revaluation of all 74,750 non-domestic properties, delivering on his commitment for more frequent revaluations here. Known as ‘Reval2023’, this process will result in a new non-domestic Valuation List being used to calculate business rate bills from April 2023. Announcing the revaluation, Minister Murphy said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has […]

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has announced that the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) is planning to resume full vehicle testing services from 26 July. In light of the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, which has enabled a number of close contact services to resume including driving tests, the DVA has carried out a review of its […]

Visitors to all care homes across Northern Ireland will be encouraged to undertake twice weekly Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests. Making this testing available for all asymptomatic visitors, that is those not displaying any symptoms, is an important additional mitigation in the fight against the virus, and is part of the Department of Health’s ongoing […]

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has announced £17million for a Roads Recovery Fund from her 2021/22 capital budget. Earlier this month the Minister announced her high level budget commitments for the new financial year which included investment of £223.1m in our roads’ network.  The £17m funding for the Roads Recovery Fund will be used to address […]

Even by Northern Ireland standards, the past week has been a political car crash. The DUP all but imploded, Sinn Fein went to the Westminster Parliament – which it boycotts on ‘principle’ – asking the British government to introduce an Irish Language Act, the Assembly teetered on the verge of being collapsed and all the […]

A £19.3million funding programme to support town and city centres recover from the impact of Covid-19 has helped thousands of businesses across councils, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has said.  Launched in August 2020, initial funding for the Covid-19 Recovery Revitalisation Programme was for measures such as shop frontage and awnings/canopies; outdoor furniture; heaters and queueing […]

Health Minister Robin Swann has launched a new Elective Care Framework for Northern Ireland, setting out a detailed roadmap for tackling hospital waiting lists. The Minister today said he wanted to “restore hope” to people waiting for hospital care in pain and discomfort. The Framework proposes a £700m investment over five years. It sets out […]