As life begins to return to normal, sadly, for many of the 80,000 older people living alone in Northern Ireland, loneliness is their normal and this is unlikely to change. Age NI launched its Check-In and Chat service in 2020, in response to the COVID pandemic. As face-to-face contact with family, […]
It’s a hot topic any time of the year, but even more so now as we see discarded litter at our favourite beauty spots continue to increase. It may seem obvious to take litter home when enjoying the outdoors, but many don’t. ‘The Right Side of Outside’ is a nationwide campaign […]
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 […]
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is supporting the ‘Ending the Harm’ campaign launched recently which aims to raise awareness of the devastating impact that illegal money lenders have on the wider community. The “Ending the Harm” campaign, which is part of the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme, is aimed at highlighting the harm […]
More than four in five adults in the UK have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as the vaccination programme continues at an unprecedented pace and scale. With 72,891,861 doses administered in total, 42,216,654 people across the UK have now been vaccinated with a first dose (80%), while 30,675,207 people have […]
Finance Minister Conor Murphy and the Finance Ministers of Scotland and Wales have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer calling for an urgent meeting with him to discuss a range of issues, including multi-year budgeting and financial recovery from the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Following discussions at the Covid Recovery Summit, the Ministers […]
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 […]
Employers For Childcare has welcomed the further extension of two Covid-19 childcare support funds, announced recently by Education Minister Michelle McIlveen. This includes a further phase of the Childcare Sustainability Fund and the Childcare Covid-19 Temporary Closure Fund and will supplement the £30 million already allocated to the childcare sector, to support 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 […]
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 an investment of £223.1m in our roads’ network. The £17m funding for the Roads Recovery Fund will […]
