Politics

January 2021

People from NI crossing border ‘without valid reason’ face fines

Gardai can ask people travelling into the Republic from Northern Ireland to return home and may ultimately fine them in future, according to an Irish minister.

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Suzanne Breen Opinion Voices of women and girls forced into homes silenced for too long while others made decisions and spoke for them

On almost every one of the 533 pages in the report on Northern Ireland’s mother and baby homes, and Magdalene laundries, there’s a story that would break your heart.

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Northern Ireland bridge to Scotland: Tory leader Ross says investment needed

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has appeared to back an ambitious plan to build a bridge or tunnel linking Scotland and Northern Ireland, it has been reported.

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Suzanne Breen Opinion Unity debate is not about righting wrongs of the past, it's about looking to the future

A border poll in 2028 on the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Former unionists, converted by the arguments for Irish unity, prominent in the campaign. Sinn Fein and the SDLP playing a part, but somebody outside party politics - Paddy Kielty is one suggestion - leading the campaign.

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PSNI probe into possible Covid breaches at Derry republican funeral

The PSNI has launched an investigation into whether large crowds that gathered at a republican funeral in Londonderry on Monday broke Covid-19 regulations.

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Stormont's consultation on building a better society

Stormont is asking the public for their views on how it should build a better society.

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NI health trusts to invite clinically extremely vulnerable to Covid vaccine regional centres

Northern Ireland health trusts are to invite those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable into their regional centres for the coronavirus vaccine.

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Caoimhe Archibald Opinion A clear lack of foresight and contingency plan for Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating, over 4,000 deaths across the island, thousands ill, many facing long-term effects, and our health and social service staff under severe pressure.

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Jon Tonge Opinion As SNP piles on pressure, only a fool would think the Union isn't in peril

As always with polls and surveys, those on either side of the Union versus united Ireland debate will take what they fancy from the Lucid Talk/Sunday Times results.

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Sir Kenneth Branagh to take on the role of Boris Johnson in TV drama

Sir Kenneth Branagh is set to step into the shoes of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a drama based on the early days of the coronavirus.

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Loyalist leaders facing community backlash with Brexit stance blamed for food shortages and Irish border poll momentum

LEADING loyalists are facing a backlash from within their own communities over the Irish Sea customs border and its effect on the union.

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Foster and O'Neill blame 'Covid-related pressures' for not responding to Assembly questions

The First and Deputy First Minister have blamed Covid-related pressures for not responding to Assembly questions on time.

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Loyalists hold talks with NIO to express anger over Irish sea border

Loyalists have held talks with the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) about the Irish Sea border and any threat it may represent to the Union.

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Lindy McDowell Opinion Trump's been decommissioned... pity the assault rifles haven't

This was the historic week in which the former President Donald Trump finally (although perhaps not permanently) stepped from the US political stage and passed on to that great golf course beneath Floridian skies.

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Suzanne Breen Opinion With so much to talk about in NI why was Question Time so dull?

Arlene Foster was wearing her favourite Crown brooch. Michelle O’Neill had a picture of the Proclamation on the wall. Brandon Lewis was waffling away. Welcome to Question Time from Northern Ireland – a far from impressive sight.

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Brandon Lewis' BBC Question Time remark on NI's EU opportunities has Twitter in a spin

BBC's Question Time came to Northern Ireland and Brandon Lewis's comments on the opportunities NI has with the current Brexit arrangements got the Twitterati talking.

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Coronavirus Northern Ireland death toll surpasses 1,700 with 12 more fatalities reported

Northern Ireland's Department of Health has reported another 12 coronavirus deaths.

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Coronavirus Northern Ireland: Lockdown extended and update on schools next week, says Education Minister

Education Minister Peter Weir hopes the Executive can update schools “next week” on whether or not they can reopen.

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Trade union Unison faces backlash after questioning military intervention at NI hospitals

Trade union Unison faced an angry backlash over a Facebook post questioning the need for military intervention at Northern Ireland hospitals and demanding information on staffing pressures.

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Courageous Edwin Poots remains upbeat after cancer diagnosis as he's given date for kidney scan

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has been offered a scan in March to establish whether his kidney cancer has spread, he has revealed.

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DUP rejects suggestion party should have agreed to Theresa May's backstop

The DUP has strongly rejected suggestions that it should have agreed to Theresa May's backstop, which would have worked out as a better option than the current protocol.

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Heaney-quoting Biden will keep US connection with Ireland stronger than ever

It is 6,000 miles away, part of a vast continent stretching from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Mexico, while we are on a small rain-sodden island on the edge of Europe. Yet we are bound together through deeply personal ties of blood and history.

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Gail Walker Opinion Edwin Poots' cancer diagnosis a reminder our politicians are human

It is a very different glimpse of a DUP politician whose public persona has always been that of the blunt, stoical Ulsterman — Edwin Poots sitting in a hospital bed weeping down the phone to his wife following a cancer diagnosis.

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Troubles victims 'denied dignity' in Twilight years over pension row: Wave's Alan McBride 'beside himself with rage'

The people most grievously injured during the Troubles are being denied “a little bit of dignity” in their twilight years because of ongoing disagreements over who will fund a victims’ payment scheme, a group which advocates for victims has said.

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DUP's Poots considering private cancer surgery amid Covid pressures after cancer diagnosis

Stormont minister Edwin Poots says he will give “serious consideration” to having private surgery after being diagnosed with kidney cancer as urgent cancer operations remain cancelled due to coronavirus pressures.

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Grammar schools can use 'whatever criteria they like' to select pupils

Grammar schools have just two days left to inform the Education Authority about how they will select next year's new pupils.

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Margaret Canning Opinion NI Secretary's persistent denial of a border in the Irish Sea is Trump-like

Today's inauguration of Joe Biden as US President marks the end of Trump's turbulent tenure.

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'Business as usual' says DUP's Edwin Poots as he awaits cancer surgery

The DUP's Edwin Poots has revealed that his cancer was discovered during his recent spell in hospital to remove his appendix.

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Coronavirus Northern Ireland: 24 deaths, 713 cases as new figures show one in 13 had Covid

There has been another 24 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Northern Ireland.

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Brandon Lewis 'like Emperor's New Clothes' on Brexit food shortage denial but it's the whole crowd pointing it out, says Poots

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has likened the secretary of state's denial Brexit is to blame for empty supermarket shelves to the fable of the Emperor's New Clothes.