With the Assembly set to begin its summer holidays on the 4 July for two months, Stormont Watch’s final blog for the next few weeks will cast its eye over how the Assembly has tackled the credit crunch and whether the end is insight.
In many ways the response of the Executive to the credit crunch has been unprecedented. The
First and deputy First Minister chaired discussion forms on the economy. The…
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Added by Stratagem on June 30, 2009 at 5:28pm —
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DEL Permanent Secretary
Dr Aideen McGinley announces she is to step down to become the new CEx of the North West regeneration company Ilex.
Before taking up her civil service post, Dr McGinley had been Chief Executive of Fermanagh Council, so will be returning to those roots and networks formed west of the Bann. She’ll now also be bringing insight into skills and training, so impor…
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Added by Stratagem on June 26, 2009 at 9:22am —
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The SDLP have today announced full details of a reshuffle of their team in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Pat Ramsey MLA will replace Patsy McGlone MLA as the Chief Whip of the SDLP Assembly Group and a range of changes have been made to Committee membership.
Margaret Ritchie MLA is unaffected by the reshuffle and remains Minister for
Social Development.
Committee Chairs
Party Leader Mark Durkan MP MLA will step down as Chair of the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee and will b…
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Added by Stratagem on June 23, 2009 at 3:16pm —
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DUP Party Leader
Peter Robinson MP MLA announced today the names of his future
Ministerial team at Stormont.
Sammy Wilson MP MLA will take over from Nigel Dodds MP MLA as Finance and Personnel Minister.
Nelson McCausland MLA will take over from Gregory Campbell MP MLA as Culture Arts & Leisure Minister.
Robin Newton MLA replaces Jeffrey Donaldson MP M…
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Added by Stratagem on June 22, 2009 at 1:41pm —
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On
Monday the Minister for
Employment and Learning will answer questions on the commercialisation of university and college research by 2010, apprenticeships and the Steps 2 work programme.
Members will discuss the Inquiry into the Way Forward for Apprenticeships and the Chair of the Social Development Committee Chair will call upo…
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Added by Stratagem on June 19, 2009 at 5:14pm —
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Last Friday saw the 3rd in a series of recession-busting workshops aimed at start-up and fledging small and medium businesses and designed to help businesses survive the recession. Run by Belfast City Council and held at City East the workshop - entitled “Financing Your Business: financial planning in the recession” was aimed at allowing participants to analyse their current financial situation, explore funding opportunities and was full of helpful hints and tips on how to improve company financ…
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Added by Stratagem on June 17, 2009 at 5:26pm —
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The recent results from the European elections and the subsequent three-way split in Unionism has prompted some unionist politicians to already draw the boundaries for the next election. This was played out in yesterday’s debate regarding
budget provisions and the allocation of government funds.
DUP MLA Nelson McCausland acknowledged that while the election of a Conservative government was a real possibility, all th…
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Added by Stratagem on June 16, 2009 at 8:42am —
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On Monday, Ministers for
OFMDFM and
Agriculture and Rural Development will be facing Members questions. Amongst the topics tabled for debate, the OFMDFM Minister will be called to account on what steps the Executive is taking to deal with the economic downturn.
Also on Monday, the Minister of Finance and Personnel Nigel Dodds MP MLA…
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Added by Stratagem on June 12, 2009 at 3:05pm —
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New findings published today by the Ulster Bank indicate that the local economy is shrinking at its
slowest rate in a year.
According to the bank’s Northern Ireland Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) report for May, private sector business activity and new business fell at much slower rates when compared with the reductions seen at the end of 2008. More modest dec…
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Added by Stratagem on June 8, 2009 at 1:04pm —
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On
Monday, Ministers for
HSSPS and
Regional Development will both be facing Members questions. Amongst the topics tabled for debate, HSSPS Minister Michael McGimpsey MLA will be quizzed about what discussions he has held with the Minister of Finance an…
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Added by Stratagem on June 5, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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A recent seminar organised by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), the authors of ‘
The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better’ , Prof Richard Wilkinson and Dr. Kate Pickett talked the audience through comparative evidence from the 20 richest countries and 50 US states showing that on a whole range of health and social problems from obesity, lack of community life, violence, drugs, mental illness and rising prison populations, are…
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Added by Stratagem on June 5, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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Drawing our economic policy examination of our MEP candidates to a close we have
Jim Allister, leader of Northern Ireland's latest political party
Traditional Unionist Voice. An MEP for the last five years, Allister describes himself as "
unapologetically Euro sceptic” and this strongly held belief shapes acts as a touch stone for his policies on the…
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Added by Stratagem on June 3, 2009 at 3:44pm —
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Continuing our look at the EU candidates and their thoughts on the economy, today we examine Sinn Féin candidate
Bairbre de Brún.
de Brún’s campaign has centred around “
keeping Ireland at the heart of Europe”, and playing a central role in shaping the future direction of the European Union. But what exactly doe…
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Added by Stratagem on June 3, 2009 at 8:30am —
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Continuing our look at the EU candidates and their thoughts on the economy, today we examine
SDLP candidate
Alban Maginness.
Maginness is hoping to win back the seat once held by John Hume, and the campaign has hinged upon the tagline
When We Win, You Win. Alongside farming and the environment, the economy features as a key element of the Maginness campaign,…
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Added by Stratagem on June 2, 2009 at 4:30pm —
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Continuing our look at the EU candidates and their thoughts on the economy, today we examine
Conservative and Unionist candidate
Jim Nicholson.
A veteran of the European Parliament with over 20 years experience under his belt, Nicholson has strangely been urging the electorate to “
vote for change”. This theme…
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Added by Stratagem on June 2, 2009 at 2:34pm —
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Continuing our look at the EU candidates and their thoughts on the economy, today we examine
Green Party candidate
Stephen Agnew.
The theme of Agnew’s campaign is:
A Green New Deal for Europe and emphasises Northern Ireland’s “
uni…
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Added by Stratagem on June 1, 2009 at 4:30pm —
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Diane Dodds – DUP
Continuing our look at the EU candidates and their thoughts on the economy, today we examine
DUP candidate
Diane Dodds.
Dodd’s campaign has focused upon maintaining unionism and preventing Sinn Féin from topping the poll; however, what are her views the economy and NI’s place in Europe?
Dodds states that out of all the part…
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Added by Stratagem on May 29, 2009 at 5:00pm —
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On Monday, Ministers from
OFMDFM,
Environment and
Finance and Personnel will all be facing questions. Amongst the topics tabled for debate, the First and deputy First Minister will give an update of the work of the Economic Advice Unit. They will also fa…
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Added by Stratagem on May 29, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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Ian Parsley - Alliance Party Candidate
With the European Elections coming next week Stratagem will spend the next seven days examining the candidates and their thoughts on the economy, the recession and how Europe is affecting Northern Ireland. First up,
Ian Parsley from the
Alliance Party.
The key theme for the Alliance candidate has been the idea of replacing…
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Added by Stratagem on May 28, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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The Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster today
announced a new £15m scheme to assist businesses in difficulty due to the recession.
Under Invest Northern Ireland’s Short Term Aid Scheme, qualifying businesses in the manufacturing and tradable services sectors will be able to receive support of up to approximately £450,000 at current exchange rates, enabling them to retain key staff while they plan and restructure for the future. T…
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Added by Stratagem on May 26, 2009 at 12:01pm —
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