Trust and confidence in leadership is essential for the reassurance of any community and many constituents have been looking forward in general terms to the new Minister’s  delivery on the Sinn Fein 2024 election manifesto, “Strong Leadership, Positive Change”.  In the Warrenpoint area, residents and businesses look forward specifically to leadership towards a solution within an area of Infrastructure responsibility to the waste stench and odour nuisance which dates back to a Council abatement notice going back almost ten years to  2015. Positive change would be greatly welcomed here. Recent confusion around the chemicals used by Re-Gen Waste in what appears to be a losing battle in negating the impact of their organic waste stench in Warrenpoint Port has led to claims and counter-claims by WHA and Re-Gen Waste as to which chemicals have been used. Their lack of agreement has resulted in the withdrawal of an Environmental Audit from the WHA website at the end of October and, in the three and a half months since then, no clarification has been forthcoming from the two bodies forming crucial cogs in the infrastructure of the NI Waste Industry.  That confusion has been escalated by WHA claims that HSENI had made a specific review into those chemicals, a position which has been categorically undermined by HSENI. Stakeholders can have no confidence and no trust in the running of the Trust Port in Warrenpoint by the  Warrenpoint Harbour Authority Board until WHA has replaced their withdrawn Environmental Audit on their website and also fully explained the answers received by a Warrenpoint resident from HSENI as follows :   QUESTIONS TO HSENI Can you please provide me the following: 1. Copies of all emails relating to the statement made by Mr Holmes especially the email of how you informed Mr Holmes of the results of the “specific review” on the Chemicals used by Re-Gen. 2. Copies of any evidence that you hold that supports the claim Mr Holmes has made relating to your organisation. HSENI RESPONSE : A search has been carried out on HSENI’s electronic and paper records based on the parameters of your request. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to your request. In response to question 1, requesting copies of all emails relating to the statement made by Mr Holmes especially the email of how you informed Mr Holmes of the results of the specific review on the Chemical's used by Re-Gen. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question. In response to question 2, requesting copies of any evidence that you hold that supports the claim Mr Holmes has made relating to your organisation. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question. In response to question 3, requesting copies of the information where Mr Holmes states that you have informed WHA not to modify any of its practices. I can confirm that HSENI holds no information in relation to this question.

Every child deserves to go to school with a full stomach. But with prices increasing and more and more families struggling, more and more children in Northern Ireland are going to school hungry because of strict rules on who can receive free school meals. If every child in primary school received a free meal everyday here, it could make a huge difference for parents and children across Northern Ireland - meaning they can focus in class, and remove the stigma when only some children are eligible. Free school meals are a lifeline for families. Providing them for all children would improve nutrition and engagement in class. And it’s doable. In London and Wales, every primary school student automatically receives a free school meal. We, the undersigned, demand that Minister Paul Givan provides Free School Meals for All, so no child goes hungry in our classrooms. 

60,000. That’s how many properties in Northern Ireland that are STILL without power four days on from Storm Éowyn. Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) - the private company in charge of maintaining our electricity infrastructure - are telling some homeowners that it will be ANOTHER week until their homes are reconnected. This isn’t good enough for a company that has been raking in the profits over the years - in 2023, NIE recorded a profit of £91.5 million. Many people, including our politicians, are calling for NIE to provide compensation to those still without power.  Stop sitting on your hands to protect your profits and compensate those affected today!

Public trust in our political institutions is at an all time low, and telling people that this information is “not in the public interest” disregards accountability & is condescending. We also fail to see how releasing the evidence informing a decision like this “has the potential to damage the concept of collective responsibility”. It may be argued privately shared opinions within discussions do, but certainly not the evidence which informed those discussions. So, therefore, we demand that, in the interest of full accountability, the NI Executive releases all evidence they used in relation to this decision.

The Public Inquiry into the proposed goldmine in the Sperrins was suspended on the 15th January 2025  because the Department for Infrastructure breached their planning regulations in respect of a Transboundary Consultation with the Republic of Ireland.  The Commissioner said “the Inquiry has been besieged with difficulties from the start - in relation to Abstraction licences, EIA Regulations & Roads department didn’t engage at all….The planning department of Department for Infrastructure failed to follow its own legislative procedures. I have no option but to accede to the request to suspend the Inquiry, in view of Access to Justice and Right to Participate.” With no live stream, nor access to online recording or an option to contribute remotely as an expert witness, this inquiry has been anything but public. As a result, many people cannot properly engage with the inquiry because they cannot be present every day due to work commitments, illness, childcare or other caring responsibilities.  All Public Inquiries in England are recorded and available online for 5 years. Why is this not the case here? A precedent was set at the Doraville Inquiry (2019) in N.I. when expert witnesses were allowed to contribute online. When the goldmine inquiry resumes, we demand that the Planning Appeals Commission implement the aforementioned measures. 

For weeks now, we’ve been reading and listening to the horror stories coming out of our emergency departments. Just last Sunday, a leading surgeon said that delays in moving patients into emergency departments from ambulances is leading to a loss of life. No matter if you are a hospital worker or a patient, we all deserve a well-run and fully-funded healthcare system. We, the undersigned, don’t accept the current state of our healthcare system and demand that the Executive works towards fixing it. 

The genocide in Gaza has been livestreamed to the world since October 7 2023. Conservative estimates put the number of people killed as approx. 68,000 (recent figures published by The Lancet) with over 100,000 maimed and injured. Every step of this genocide has been funded and supported by the United States. Our governments have paid lip service rather than take any meaningful action against Israel. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel is guilty of committing plausible genocide in Gaza. Israel has displayed intent in the words of its government officials, in its deliberate denial of humanitarian aid, food, preventing safe births to mention a few. In 2024 our petition to Boycott the White House St Patrick's Day Celebrations got more than 20,000 signatures. The pressure we put on politicians not to go resulted in several prominent politicians not going, as well as protests in Ireland and the US against the betrayal. This year we have an opportunity to build on this. Through constant lobbying and pressure, Ireland is now a party to the case South Africa is taking against Israel in the International Courts of Justice. People pressure also forced Israel to close its embassy in Ireland. We call on all political parties on the island of Ireland to listen to the people and not go to Washington on St. Patrick's Day to shake hands soaked with the blood of Palestinians. Petition endorsed by: Derry IPSC Mid Ulster IPSC Cairde Palestine Gaels Against Genocide Mothers Against Genocide QUB Palestine Assembly Artists Against Genocide Teachers for Palestine Fermoy IPSC D7 For Palestine Lurgan IPSC Minority teachers Ireland Louth IPSC The People of Clare Against Genocide BadAds  Hcworkers for Palestine Derry Anti-War Coalition Swords For Palestine United Against Racism NW BDS Strabane NYirish4palestine Newry IPSC South Kerry Friends Of Palestine East Derry IPSC Armagh IPSC ATU Friends of Palestine 

Filthy mining corporation Dalradian is fighting to be able to rip up our stunning Sperrin Mountains, pollute our waters, and damage our health - so they can get rich by mining for gold. After 50,000 written objections, over a decade of tireless campaigning and numerous legal interventions, Save Our Sperrins have taken their fight to a landmark public inquiry that will decide if the mine will go ahead. As Save Our Sperrins says: “The inquiry is a rare opportunity for all of us to come together and have our voices heard. Together, we can stand for what truly matters.” They’ve been fighting for years, and now we stand with them. No toxic mining in Sperrins!

We demand that Stormont listens to victims and survivors, reform the law courts, overhaul policing, and reform our sex education curriculum. More than anything, Stormont needs to stop the platitudes and ensure women victims and survivors are not reduced to begging for help, but are believed, represented and resourced. We have one simple message for the NI Executive: we need action, not empty promises to keep women here safe.

This is blatant discrimination as blockers can still be issued to under 18s for other non gender dysphoria related reasons.

"The People's Housing Bill" aims to alleviate the devastating housing crisis being felt in communities throughout the North, and is being brought forward by Gerry Carroll MLA. The supply of social homes is at an all-time low while rents are at an all-time high. 48,366 households are on the housing waiting list - this amounts to around 90,000 people. 36,741 of those households are in “housing stress", dealing with issues like damp and mould, overcrowding and facing homelessness. The bill proposes to:  • cut and cap rents • ban no-fault evictions • move to open-ended, more secure tenancies • increase housing supply by turning empty houses into homes • establish a Rental Board to protect renters’ rights, hold landlords to account and ensure minimum housing standards.

This year - 2024 - marked 26 years since the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement - which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland which took over 3720 lives, and injured 47,541 people.  Most of the deaths were of civilian people. Despite people here voting overwhelmingly for peace, illegal loyalist paramilitary groups remain present and active in many communities, causing misery and harm to people and preying on those impacted by economic hardship. It is widely acknowledged that elements of loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the racist riots that swept Belfast in August this year. This can no longer stand. We call on the NI Executive to do all in it's power to ensure that the commitment set out in New Decade, New Approach to ending the harm done by paramilitarism is acted on with urgency.  We reject the suggestion made by Gordon Lyons that those seeking to call the DUP to account for their meetings with the Loyalist Communities Council are displaying 'faux outrage'.  We are not the problem.  Seeking to normalise paramilitary groups having influence over our elected politicians is.