Latest releases
Searching a long passage? Find similar statements.
- Infrastructure and transport: remove filter
- Health: remove filter
- Environment and climate: remove filter
- Disability and equality: remove filter
- Other: remove filter
4,350 releases
-
McLaughlin: Index showing Belfast and Derry among worst places to live highlights need for Regional Balance Bill
SDLP MLA Sinéad McLaughlin cites a UK Better Lives Index ranking Belfast and Derry poorly and says she is seeking to introduce a Regional Balance Bill to ensure every part of Northern Ireland gets fair investment and opportunity.
Disability and equality Issue: UK Better Lives Index ranking of Belfast and Derry Original release: McLaughlin: Index showing Belfast and Derry among worst places to live highlights need for Regional Balance Bill (opens in a new tab)
-
Removal of Department for Communities trilingual logo a ‘backwards step for equality’ – Gildernew
Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew, chair of the Communities Committee, criticises Communities Minister Gordon Lyons for dropping the trilingual Irish and Ulster-Scots logo from official paperwork, calling it a retrograde move on inclusion and equality and saying attempts to roll back rights will fail.
Disability and equality Issue: Communities Department trilingual logo removal under new ministerial guidelines Original release: Removal of Department for Communities trilingual logo a ‘backwards step for equality’ – Gildernew (opens in a new tab)
-
Ireland Against Racism Carnival
People Before Profit urges support for the Ireland Against Racism Carnival, a demonstration on 27 September, noting more than 70 backing organisations including the trade union congress. It condemns rising racism and a recent attack in Tallaght, and calls for unity against far-right scapegoating…
Disability and equality Immigration Original release: Ireland Against Racism Carnival (opens in a new tab)
-
Northern Ireland must invest properly in palliative care - Dodds
DUP MLA Diane Dodds says Northern Ireland must invest properly in end-of-life services instead of relying on fundraising, and calls for a statutory obligation on commissioning of palliative beds with funding matched to need. She also urges the government to prioritise palliative care over assisted…
Health Public finance and taxation Issue: Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill House of Lords debate Original release: Northern Ireland must invest properly in palliative care - Dodds (opens in a new tab)
-
Lyons announces clubs moving forward under NI Football Fund
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons announces that 20 club projects will move to the next funding assessment stage of the Football Fund's performance strand, while warning that club demand exceeds the £36.2million budget and promising further funding bids.
Infrastructure and transport Public finance and taxation Issue: Football Fund performance programme first cohort of 20 club projects Original release: Lyons announces clubs moving forward under NI Football Fund (opens in a new tab)
-
TUV welcomes comments in Grand Central case and challenges DUP approach to Irish going forward
TUV leader Jim Allister KC MP welcomes a judge's comments in the Grand Central case, saying the decision required Executive agreement, and calls on the DUP to block Irish language signage there and any Irish Language Commissioner proposal to impose signs.
Disability and equality Constitutional affairs Issue: Grand Central Irish language signage court case comments Original release: TUV welcomes comments in Grand Central case and challenges DUP approach to Irish going forward (opens in a new tab)
-
SF dramatic U-turn on Lough Neagh welcome: SDLP
SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole MLA welcomes Sinn Féin's reversal on the Lough Neagh Action Plan, after its MLAs joined a successful Assembly motion removing a planned Nutrients Action Programme consultation. He calls on the Executive to take meaningful action to restore the lough.
Environment and climate Agriculture and rural affairs Issue: Assembly motion on Lough Neagh Nutrients Action Programme consultation Original release: SF dramatic U-turn on Lough Neagh welcome: SDLP (opens in a new tab)
-
McGlone: Toxins in Lough Neagh fish underlines need to act
SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone says toxins found in some fish in Lough Neagh show action is urgently needed, warning the Food Standards Agency's safe-to-eat advice must not change. He calls for all Stormont parties to back plans to save the lough and welcomes Sinn Féin's shift after an SDLP…
Environment and climate Agriculture and rural affairs Issue: Toxins found in Lough Neagh fish Original release: McGlone: Toxins in Lough Neagh fish underlines need to act (opens in a new tab)
-
Whyte urges bold investment to increase public transport use
SDLP North Belfast Councillor Carl Whyte says new Department for Infrastructure figures show public transport use remains below pre-pandemic levels, and calls for bold investment, safer cycle lanes and a year-round night bus network in Belfast.
Infrastructure and transport Public finance and taxation Issue: Public Transport Statistics Northern Ireland 2024-25 report Original release: Whyte urges bold investment to increase public transport use (opens in a new tab)
-
O'Hanlon demands urgent clarity on future of Middletown Centre for Autism
SDLP Councillor Thomas O'Hanlon has written to Education Ministers Paul Givan and Helen McEntee seeking urgent answers after staff at the Middletown Centre for Autism were told to work from home indefinitely. He asks whether the Ministers knew in advance and demands assurances that the centre will…
Education Disability and equality Issue: Middletown Centre for Autism staff instructed to work from home Original release: O'Hanlon demands urgent clarity on future of Middletown Centre for Autism (opens in a new tab)
-
Durkan slams exclusion of Derry from NI Football Fund
SDLP Opposition Communities Spokesperson Mark H Durkan MLA slams the exclusion of Brandywell Stadium and Derry City from the first stage of Northern Ireland Football Fund awards. He says he will challenge Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to explain the outcome, and claims clubs raised concerns…
Infrastructure and transport Public finance and taxation Issue: Football Fund performance programme first cohort of 20 club projects Original release: Durkan slams exclusion of Derry from NI Football Fund (opens in a new tab)
-
World Suicide Prevention Day highlights urgent need for action – Flynn
Sinn Féin MLA Órlaithí Flynn urges the public to respond to the consultation on her proposed Suicide Prevention Training Bill, which would require public bodies to train frontline staff in suicide prevention. The consultation closes on 17 September 2025.
Health Issue: Suicide Prevention Training Bill public consultation Original release: World Suicide Prevention Day highlights urgent need for action – Flynn (opens in a new tab)
-
Collective effort needed to address Lough Neagh – Kearney
Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney MLA says Lough Neagh's pollution is a national emergency needing joint action from the Assembly and Irish government, citing the 2025 eel fishing shutdown and calling for immediate supports for affected fishermen.
Environment and climate Economy and employment Issue: Lough Neagh 2025 eel fishing season termination Original release: Collective effort needed to address Lough Neagh – Kearney (opens in a new tab)
-
Cliff Path is a vital local amenity which must be restored – McMullan
Sinn Féin Councillor for the Glens DEA and Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Council Oliver McMullan calls for urgent restoration of the Cliff Path in Cushendall, welcoming PEACE PLUS funding and urging the council to get the work out to tender and start it as soon as possible.
Local government Infrastructure and transport Issue: Cushendall Cliff Path restoration PEACE PLUS funding Original release: Cliff Path is a vital local amenity which must be restored – McMullan (opens in a new tab)
-
Protecting and restoring Lough Neagh a priority for Sinn Féin – Finnegan
Sinn Féin MLA Aoife Finnegan says safeguarding Lough Neagh is a party priority ahead of an Assembly debate, citing recurring blue-green algae. She backs a workable Nutrient Action Programme and calls for short and long term actions under the Executive's Lough Neagh Action Plan, shaped by lough…
Environment and climate Issue: Assembly debate on Lough Neagh blue-green algae Original release: Protecting and restoring Lough Neagh a priority for Sinn Féin – Finnegan (opens in a new tab)
-
We must continue working together to restore Lough Neagh – Mallaghan
Sinn Féin MP Cathal Mallaghan says all parties have a responsibility to work together to tackle blue-green algae on Lough Neagh, following a public meeting on the issue. He calls for the Executive's plan to continue progressing alongside other measures.
Environment and climate Original release: We must continue working together to restore Lough Neagh – Mallaghan (opens in a new tab)
-
Education Minister must Guarantee One-to-One Support for SEN Pupils
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll says the Executive keeps failing SEN pupils and their families, accusing Education Minister Paul Givan of warm words without action on school places, transport and classroom assistant support. He calls for guaranteed support for every pupil.
Education Disability and equality Issue: Debate on the crisis in special educational needs provision Original release: Education Minister must Guarantee One-to-One Support for SEN Pupils (opens in a new tab)
-
SDLP motion a chance for SF and DUP to rethink Lough Neagh approach
SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole MLA urges Sinn Féin, the DUP and the UUP to reverse their opposition to the Nutrients Action Programme consultation ahead of an SDLP motion on Lough Neagh pollution. He says the Executive is failing the lake and calls for a levy on large agri-food…
Environment and climate Agriculture and rural affairs Issue: Assembly debate on Lough Neagh blue-green algae Original release: SDLP motion a chance for SF and DUP to rethink Lough Neagh approach (opens in a new tab)
-
Time for Education Minister to prioritise children with special educational needs – Baker
Sinn Féin MLA Danny Baker calls on the Education Minister to make children with special educational needs a priority for his department, following a cross-party Assembly motion on the SEN system crisis. He says the minister and Education Authority are failing these children and urges action…
Education Disability and equality Issue: Assembly motion on special educational needs system crisis Original release: Time for Education Minister to prioritise children with special educational needs – Baker (opens in a new tab)
-
Education Minister should have awaited guidance from Equality Commission – Sheehan
Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan says the Education Minister should have waited for Equality Commission guidance on the UK Supreme Court ruling rather than acting unilaterally, and calls for decisions affecting vulnerable children to await the Commission's advice.
Education Disability and equality Issue: Education Minister decision following UK Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces Original release: Education Minister should have awaited guidance from Equality Commission – Sheehan (opens in a new tab)