Birth partners are not visitors; they often are the other parent to the baby/babies and provide essential physical, mental and emotional support during pregnancy and birth. While pregnancy is not an illness, pregnant people are particularly vulnerable emotionally and mentally, and having to attend appointments without the support of a trusted partner can leave them feeling alone, scared and anxious. This can lead to mental health issues. Prior to the pandemic, one-third of women found their birth experience traumatic, which can significantly affect their lives, their relationships and their transition to parenthood; restrictions are compounding this. Birthing people and their partners should be treated in an holistic way, protecting their physical, emotional and mental health.

National Energy Action (NEA) NI research is showing that 80% of households here have already cut down on their central heating, and most worryingly more than 1 in 10 households have had to forego meals to meet the rising energy costs. NI householders have received significantly less help in the energy crisis than those in England Scotland and Wales. They did not benefit from the £150 council tax rebate and nor do they benefit from Household Support Fund. Furthermore, NI homes are not part of the Warm Homes discount scheme meaning vulnerable households miss out on an additional £150 every winter. There is a clear need to ensure the £400 per household support reaches people in Northern Ireland as quickly as possible, to protect vulnerable households form the worst impacts of living in a cold home, including needless deaths and morbidity along with increased pressure on our healthcare services in the months ahead. We ask that you approach this issue with the urgency it requires and commit to ensuring the emergency payments are allocated to households as quickly as possible.

This is the largest adult safeguarding investigation in the UK of its kind. The PSNI has examined CCTV footage and has so far established that there have been more than 1500 criminal assaults on patients in a 6 bed ward in a time period of 6 months. Two weeks ago yet another staff member was sacked from the hospital for abuse on a patient. The abuse is continuing. There can be no tolerance of abuse and it is critical that the individuals and institutions responsible should be held to account. That includes those who were directly responsible for the abuses but crucially also, the institutions and individuals responsible for systemic failures or whose action or inaction otherwise permitted the abuse to occur. These people were in the care of the state and are amongst the most vulnerable in society.

This planning application has been the subject of chaos and confusion since it came before Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council’s Planning and Regulatory Services Committee in January. Despite council officers recommending permission be refused, elected members voted to approve the application. A number of members excluded themselves from voting after wrongly assuming that they weren't permitted to do so, having not attended a site visit. The algae and pollution at Lough Neagh has already caused people here great concern and fear. The Minister must use his powers to call this decision in, and refuse planning permission for the landfill site extension. Source: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/department-considering-call-in-on-controversial-lough-neagh-landfill-application/a1430311281.html?

Unlike England, Scotland and Wales, NI still does not have a budget or scheme in place for free period products in all school toilets. Yet again, we have been left behind. Schools already provide free toilet roll, hand soap, hand towels and sanitary waste disposal bins in toilets. What makes period products any different? We firmly believe that any toilet that requires toilet roll, requires period products in exactly the same way. In June 2020, a Plan international UK study showed how 3 in 10 UK girls have struggled to afford or access sanitary wear during lockdown, with over half (54%) of these girls having used toilet paper as an alternative. There is no doubt that period poverty has been exacerbated as a result of the current pandemic and the need to maintain good hygiene has never been more important. Due to extensive job losses, an increase in people using food banks, and many other local support services being cut, families have been hard hit and are under more financial pressure than ever. At the Homeless Period Belfast, we have seen an exponential increase in demand and requests for our own period packs. In April – June 2020 we received 3 times the demand than previous years. Now, more than ever, a free period products scheme in schools across NI will relieve the financial pressure on parents and students purchasing these items. It will also alleviate the pressure of school students having to remember to carry period products in their bags when there are many other things to worry about and remember to bring (exams, books, homework, hand sanitiser/masks, bus passes etc.), meaning students can go about their daily lives without getting caught out. Free period products in schools will ensure that every young person can learn and be their very best, without the worry of their next pad or tampon holding them back.

Randox received £23 million in public funds through Invest NI in 2018, and benefited from a research partnership with our two universities QUB and UU. Now they are selling at an extortionate price (£120 per test) at a time when people are worried about food and job security and how they'll keep a roof over their heads. Meanwhile our NHS is struggling as they don't have enough tests so that key healthcare professionals can continue to do their vital work on the frontline of the fight against this global pandemic. Demand that Randox releases the Covid-19 tests free of charge to the NHS and stops profiteering from this crisis. See: https://www.randoxhealth.com/product/coronavirus-covid-19-home-testing-kit/ and: https://www.randox.com/tag/invest-ni/

The hospice is a local charity that provides specialist palliative care for more than 350 babies, children, and their families each year. It's the only facility of it's kind in Northern Ireland. Extremely sick children and their families depend on the Hospice. This funding must be restored immediately. Dáithí uses the hospice four or times a year and we would be lost without it. The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice is such a magical place and I like to say to people that 'the hospice and the people who work there make the impossible possible'."

The Legacy Bill passed in Westminster includes a form of immunity for some perpetrators of crimes committed during the Northern Ireland Troubles and prevents future civil cases and inquests into legacy offences. Families bereaved in Northern Ireland through the conflict have suffered from their loss and the pain of getting justice for decades. For many, this will close the door on that forever. All victims groups, all political parties and international human rights bodies vigorously oppose this law. The only way to stop it now is for the Irish government to take an Inter-state complaint against the UK on the Legacy Bill.

Lough Neagh is the largest lake on these islands.  Steeped in history and unique biodiversity, a pollution expert has said that without intervention Lough Neagh will become “a stinking septic tank that’s 400 square kilometres with no lid on it” from which we can no longer draw drinking water.  The owner of the lake-bed makes huge profits by selling licences to sand extraction companies. It's not enough to offer to sell the Lough, it must be given freely over to the peole so that the desecration can stop.

Thirteen people were killed on 30 January 1972 when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a civil rights march. These flags have been roundly condemned by all sides of the community, and are a deliberate attempt to hurt survivors and intimidate communities. They must be taken down now.

The Department of Health NI are refusing to commission abortion services, despite regulations now in place which make abortion provision a legal requirement. This means that only limited abortion access has been provided and too many women and pregnant people have been refused treatment and told to travel. The Minister for Health has also stated this limited access is an ‘interim’ measure only, which means that there has been NO attempt by the Department to commission fitting, adequate and permanent abortion provision we need. We have the law. Now we need the access.

More than 25,000 people, including over 10,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since October. Joe Biden cannot be allowed to celebrate the peace on the island of Ireland while continuing to fund Benjamin Netanyahu's slaughter in Palestine. By not attending the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Michelle O'Neill will show the cost of this support, and send a strong message in favour of a ceasefire.