At the end of last year, nurses went on strike for the first time ever for fair pay and adequate staffing for the NHS. It has been confirmed that funding was secured to reinstate their strike pay, but it has not been paid out. Nurses are at the backbone of our NHS, and at the heart of the Covid19 response. They can no longer be at the back of the queue when it comes to pay.

Every summer, flags go up on lampposts across Northern Ireland. They hang around for months becoming an eyesore, and many glorify illegal paramilitary groups. This year we've seen an increase in flags in shared areas like the Westlink motorway, at supermarkets and outside the PSNI training centre at Garnerville. No one takes responsibility to take them down. The flying of flags needs to be clearly legislated for so the issue can be tackled once and for all.

Badgers are not the cause of TB in cattle, and 8 out of 10 badgers here are healthy Badgers are a valued native species, protected by law under the Wildlife NI Order 1985 and the Bern Convention. According to Ulster Wildlife, twenty-five per cent of the European population is found in the UK, so we have an international responsibility to conserve and protect them. Vaccination should be used as a way to control bovine TB in the badger population. The most comprehensive scientific study of the effect of badger culling on levels of bovine TB in badgers and cattle in the world took place 1998 - 2006 and concluded ‘badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain’.

Around 66% of us in Northern Ireland use oil heating compared to 4% in the rest of the UK. But Liz Truss's government is allocating only a measly £100 to those of us who use oil heating. It won't even touch the sides. She’s saying that gas prices have increased more dramatically than oil. But the price of oil is over one and a half times what it was last year, and this is literally a drop in the ocean of what is needed to prevent people not being able to heat their homes this winter.

We, the public, patients, parents, carers and workers are standing up to support our underfunded public services and underpaid public servants. While the Secretary of State uses your pay award as political football, we support your action for better pay and services - because we all depend on them.

In 2023, 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, only 8% of NI kids go to integrated schools despite huge demand. Right now, the Department of Education has a public consultation on their 'Action Plan' and anyone can comment. Tell the Department of Education - we want a REAL Action Plan for integrated education.

Holy Family is a vital cornerstone of the community, playing a central role in the lives of local families.  The current conditions jeopardise both the children's health and ability to learn. Without urgent attention, these issues will only worsen, further compromising the wellbeing of the pupils and staff. 

All human life is precious. No matter where we come from, we all deserve to live free from violence and to put our children to bed, knowing that they will wake up safely. The world has been horrified by the loss of life that has taken place in Israel and Palestine over the last week. Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government have launched a vicious, all-out attack on civilians trapped inside Gaza and is planning on bombing the people there, nearly half of whom are children, to extinction. The killing of so many innocent people by Hamas sent shockwaves throughout the world and we grieve for all the lives unjustly lost. But here more than anywhere, we know that this response will lead only to more death, loss and horror. At times like this, we must hold fast to our humanity. We in Northern Ireland know all too well the devastating impact of cycles of violence, and how they reverberate across generations. We call on you to do all you can to stop the war and the slaughter of innocent civilians in this conflict. A future of peace and safety, grounded in justice, freedom and equality for all, is the only option.

We know that nearly 50% of households in NI are living in fuel poverty and the situation only looks likely to get worse. Choosing between heating and eating is very much a reality for around 100,000 homes in Northern Ireland. High energy prices, inflationary pressures and the cost of living crisis are squeezing households budgets like never before. We need the NI Executive up and running urgently to ease the pressure facing businesses, households and our NHS. Let the DUP know that it is time to end the boycott.

Kingspan, an Irish company based in Cavan, manufactured Grenfell Tower’s combustible insulation. During the Grenfell Inquiry into the tower block fire which killed 72 people in 2017, a former executive said that the firm was involved in a “deliberate and calculated deceit”, which involved marketing the product without solid test evidence. The inquiry has also heard that Kingspan rigged tests and hired lobbyists after the disaster to try to persuade MPs that rival non-combustible products might be no less dangerous. Ulster Rugby should play no part in whitewashing Kingspan's image and must terminate it's sponsorship relationship and rename the stadium. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/30/kingspan-manager-belligerent-over-fire-concerns-in-2008-grenfell-inquiry-hears

Asylum policy is a reserved matter decided by Westminster that lies outwith the Northern Ireland devolved government. Westminster's response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine has been shameful. We the undersigned from Northern Ireland call on Boris Johnson to put in place a visa waiver scheme for Ukrainian people seeking shelter from the war and on the Northern Ireland Executive to put in place a scheme to facilitate the resettlement of refugees in Northern Ireland.

If mental health promotion was given a more central and compulsory role in the curriculum the wellbeing of the young people would improve. The communities we work in are some of the most deprived areas in the UK. The suicide rate is around 70% higher in deprived areas than non-deprived areas, and rates of pupils needing tuition due to anxiety and mental health continues to be high. We need schools and the Education Authority to monitor how our schools are addressing mental health.