Recent weeks have seen increased instances of workers across Northern Ireland being violently targeted for no other reason than the colour of their skin. The scenes at Connswater where migrant workers were targeted by racist groups styling themselves as 'vigilantes', and restaurant owner Michael Deane whipping up fear to line his own pockets. Both are sickening and must not be tolerated. We, the undersigned, condemn these actions in the strongest terms.  We also place on record our support, solidarity and love to the migrant workers across Northern Ireland who contribute to this place in so many ways - including putting food on our table, and caring for us through our NHS when we are sick.  We stand against racism, and send a strong message to them - that most people here will always fight hate with love.

In just under a month’s time, the two universities here - Queen's University Belfast, and the University of Ulster - will hold their annual careers fairs. And we have just found out that Citibank is likely to be there. Citibank should play no role in our publicly-funded universities. Not only are they the third biggest fossil fuel funder in the world, they are also the largest foreign bank in Israel and help secure funding and arms for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Citibank causes harm and destruction by financing fossil fuel companies whose greed is causing extreme weather, rising sea levels, extinction of species across the globe. And not only that, Citibank was the lead bank in arranging the purchase of F-35 fighter jets by Israel that they are now using to drop 2000lb bombs on Gaza. We, the undersigned, call on Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University to drop Citibank from all upcoming and future career fairs. 

For many visitors to Derry, one of the first things they do is explore the world famous walls that offer spectacular views right across the city. But new figures have revealed that Derry’s historic city walls are the most vandalised monument in Northern Ireland. According to figures from the Department for Communities, a total of 193 incidents have been recorded from April 2021 to April 2025. No matter who you are or where you come from, the walls are the pride of everyone in the city and across the North. Many of us want Stormont to do more to protect our cultural and built heritage.  We call on Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to invest more resources to protecting and maintaining the walls. 

When Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald put seven prospecting licenses up for consultation earlier this year, 99.5% of respondents objected to the licenses. Despite the widespread opposition to mining, her department proceeded with approving. More recently, the department has asked these companies to "relinquish" their licenses because the department didn't follow their own rules on publicising consultations. Three companies “relinquished” 5 licences but Dalradian Gold didn't  “relinquish” the other two licences. This entire process has made a mockery of the Department’s consultation process. Mining is a filthy business. It pollutes our water and land with chemicals, harms our health and destroys our beautiful ecosystems. And people here, including the amazing group Save our Sperrins, have been fighting hard to stop Dalradian's plan for a massive goldmine in the Sperrins for years. Back in 2022, Minister Caoimhe Archibald opposed Dalradian’s plans for a  massive goldmine in the Sperrins and called for a moratorium on mining licenses. Instead of giving these filthy mining companies a second chance to apply for prospecting licenses, Minister Caoimhe Archibald should implement an immediate moratorium on all mining activities and start preparing an eventual legislative plan. 

Many parents and families in Northern Ireland are coming under unbearable financial pressure due to the arbitrary and expensive school uniform requirements. However, the current draft of the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill will make little difference to the pockets of parents - and expensive branded suppliers like Kukri and O'Neill's will continue to reap in the profits.  When the legislation is introduced to the Assembly for the consideration stage of the bill, we call on you to use your power as an MLA to ensure that the legislation includes power to implement price caps on school uniforms. 

Open letter text: "To the Members of Parliament, the Northern Ireland Executive and our regional media, We write to you today with urgency and with hope. Northern Ireland must come together, across every culture and community and do more to stand for Palestine. And we must do it now. Across Europe, the tide is turning. France will recognise the State of Palestine. Other nations are stepping forward. The UK is under growing pressure to follow. People everywhere are saying: enough is enough. We thank those who have spoken up;  Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, Alliance, the Greens and the SDLP and all who have called for a ceasefire, for justice and for the recognition of Palestine as a nation among nations. However, too many still stand back, the DUP, the UUP, the TUV, hiding behind stale lines and tired rhetoric while neighbourhoods are reduced to rubble, families left stranded and starving, and the promise of peace is buried with the dead. All of us on this island know what it means to have allies who did not look away, who stood with us when we chose the hard road to peace. Now we owe that same to others. We say this plainly: Gaza’s children need more than careful words. They need the courage of leaders willing to name this horror for what it is; Collective punishment, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, War Crimes. They need the courage of leaders willing to act when red lines have long been crossed. We call on every elected representative to: • Demand a permanent ceasefire — make this your first task. • Demand the recognition of the State of Palestine — today, not someday. • Demand that aid flows freely, under UN oversight — not at the mercy of siege and blockade. • Back a UN mission to protect lives and rebuild what hope can still be saved. • Demand justice for every war crime, whoever commits it. • Help build the foundations of a peaceful, democratic Palestine where extremism finds no ground to grow. • Do not stand silent. Do not stand by. Do not look away. Stand for peace. Stand for justice. Stand for Palestine — Now."

We are inviting members of the public to sign the open letter to the Executive which was drafted based on the shared input and collective sentiment from a workshop hosted by the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network regarding the draft anti-Poverty Strategy.  “Dear Executive Ministers,  The undersigned agree that the Northern Ireland Executive's draft Anti-Poverty 'Strategy' does not meet the criteria of a reasonable strategy. It fails to fulfil what oversight bodies, including the NI Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee, outline as the basic elements of any strategy.   The NI Audit Office said that "an integrated cross departmental anti-poverty strategy [should] ensure that the focus is on a number of properly defined and more specific actions" and “it should include an action plan containing clearly defined indicators and targets aimed at quantifying and reducing poverty."   The Public Accounts Committee said that there is a "clear need for targets and outcomes that are quantitative, qualitative and time-bound to properly measure performance and demonstrate the impact of strategic actions." It also considered that "a strategy which does not have specific resources devoted to it is never going to be as effective as it could be."   We acknowledge that the Minister has indicated that an action plan with targets and specific actions will follow at a later, unspecified date, but every expert, every oversight body is clear that a strategy must include measurable and time bound targets within or alongside the strategy.     Once again, we urge you to meaningfully engage with the huge volume of research that has been produced by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel (2020), the Anti-Poverty Strategy Co-Design Group (2022), the Welfare Reform Mitigation Review (2021), the Discretionary Support Review (2022) and the hundreds of pages of Northern Ireland specific evidence produced by organisations and academics that provides clear evidence of the interventions that work to tackle poverty.    We are committed to working with you in good faith to eradicate poverty in Northern Ireland, and therefore, we are asking the NI Executive to withdraw their support of the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy, on the basis that it is more harmful to have a strategy that will not address poverty, than no strategy at all. Our children, families and communities – your constituents – deserve better.   Yours Sincerely, 50+ organisations and the undersigned”

Last night, Gordon Lyons issued a public statement highlighting that families who had been terrorised out of their homes in Ballymena had taken shelter in Larne Leisure Centre. Hours later the Leisure Centre was attacked, its windows smashed and the building set on fire. He’s already been reported to the Standards Committee, and right now calls are mounting for him to resign.  Words matter, and at times like this, good political leadership can make all the difference to people’s safety. This is not it. Right now, we have a chance to put a marker down. Politicians need to know that holding public office is not compatible with issuing statements that bring communities who are already under attack into further danger. And that there has to be consequences for that.

In the early hours of the 9th June, the Israeli military unlawfully attacked and captured a civilian ship, the Madleen, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza - the 12 volunteers on the ship were unlawfully detained and the life-saving aid confiscated.  Israel is blocking aid from entering Gaza, in defiance of international law. This is what the Madleen was all about - taking action to expose and end the starvation of people in Gaza, and the weaponisation of aid that has led to Israeli forces shooting dead Palestinians at so-called food distribution centres.  We, the undersigned, in solidarity with the Madleen and call for Israel to end its starvation of Gaza today. 

The genocidal attack on Gaza isn't just fought with weapons; it's fought with money. Every penny to Belfast City council (rates, events in the Waterfront & Titanic, employee wages, etc.) goes through Barclays Bank, which is profiting from the genocide, and handling Israeli war bonds. Barclays Bank holds the tender for Belfast City Council banking services, and we call on the Council to take its money, your money, elsewhere. Since October 2023, Israel has raised nearly $20 billion through government bonds, explicitly stating it's for the war. Major financial institutions, including Barclays and the Central Bank of Ireland, have played a direct role in this, facilitating the sale of these bonds as ‘primary dealers’. And investors, like Allianz, have poured in hundreds of millions of dollars. We need to ask ourselves: what are the ethical implications of profiting from bloodshed and conflict?

I was in collision with a large agricultural vehicle on the Killaughy Road between Downpatrick and Newtownards last September. The car, a Volvo 740 Estate was wrecked and written off. The agricultural vehicle was also wrecked. I survived because that Volvo was one of the strongest and robust cars on the road. In most other private car I would have been cut in two. A tragedy is waiting to happen. In a similar collision, I can see a young family being wiped out in an instant.

Moy Park, the North's first £2 billion company , is making record profits while poisoning our precious waterways that feed into Lough Neagh. Nutrient pollution from industrial factory farming is  one of the main causes of the blue-green algae suffocating Lough Neagh. In 2024 the Save Lough Neagh campaign held a protest against Moy Park’s sponsorship on the Antrim loughshore. BBC Spotlight uncovered hundreds of pollution incidents from Moy Park, and how little punishment they received. The company has a history exploiting workers, such as underpaying minimum wage workers, and even scandals over a worker’s death. The Lough supplies most of the city's drinking water - big agricultural corporations, such as Moy Park, are putting our right to water at risk.  This is greenwashing at its very worst - using the Belfast Marathon, and the tens of thousands of people who run and cheer on their loved ones from across the city, to distract from their brutal business practices.   Follow the Save Lough Neagh campaign on: https://instagram.com/saveloughneagh https://www.facebook.com/saveloughneagh We, the undersigned, call on you and the organisers of Belfast City Marathon to drop Moy Park as a sponsor of Belfast City Marathon and Half-marathon today.