Chambré Public Affairs – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Weekly Bulletin 06/09/25

Chambré Public Affairs on September 6, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 312

What you need to know Think Tank Pivotal calls for Executive to show “bravery and unity” On Monday (1 September) Pivotal, Northern Ireland’s independent public policy think tank, published a review of Executive’s performance over the last 18 months. The review tracked the performance of each department across the 18 month period, analysed the progress made within each of the nine Programme for Government commitments and provided key messages to the Executive. A main finding of the report was that the Executive’s …

Weekly Bulletin 23/08/25

Chambré Public Affairs on August 23, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 859

What you need to know Latest poll shows TUV as the third most popular party in NI, moving Alliance Party to fourth The latest LucidTalk poll, published on Friday (15 August), showed that the TUV (Traditional Unionist Voice) has overtaken both the Alliance Party and the UUP to become Northern Ireland’s third most popular party. Support for the TUV now stands at 13%, up 1 percentage point since the last LucidTalk poll in May 2025. Sinn Féin remained the most popular party …

Weekly Bulletin 16/08/25

Chambré Public Affairs on August 16, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 266

What you need to know Chancellor meets deputy First Minister and Finance Minister in first official visit to Belfast On Tuesday (12 August), Chancellor Rachel Reeves made her first official visit to Belfast, and met with deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and Finance Minister John O’Dowd. According to BBC News NI, Ms Reeves said there was a “huge opportunity” in Northern Ireland to “grow rich sectors of the economy”. In a statement, the deputy First Minister described the meeting as “constructive”, and …

Weekly Bulletin 09/08/25

Chambré Public Affairs on August 9, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 617

What you need to know Infrastructure Minister to appeal A5 decision On Wednesday (6 August), the Department for Infrastructure confirmed that it had served a Notice of Appeal against the court judgement, which blocked construction of the new A5 dual carriageway. According to BBC News, the £1.7bn project was approved by ministers in October 2024, but a judge, Justice McAlinden, ruled in June that the plans breached climate targets under the Climate Change Act. The A5 is a key cross-border route connecting the …

Weekly Bulletin 02/08/25

Chambré Public Affairs on August 2, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 710

What you need to know Northern Ireland’s first regional clinical director for elective care to address waiting list announced On Monday (28 July), Health Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA announced that Professor Mark Taylor, a consultant surgeon and member of the Bengoa panel, will be Northern Ireland’s first Regional Clinical Director for Elective Care. The role is central to “overseeing, leading and supporting” the Department’s plan to reduce hospital waiting lists. It will provide “specialist clinical leadership and advice to the Minister and …

Weekly Bulletin 26/07/25

Chambré Public Affairs on July 26, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 490

What you need to know this week Justice Minister launches consultation on criminalisation of deepfakes On Monday (21 July), Justice Minister Naomi Long MLA launched a public consultation on proposals to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images of adults. According to BBC News, a deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally altered using AI to replace the face of one person with the face of another.. Minister Long said the sharing of deepfakes can have “devastating …

Weekly Bulletin 21/7/25

Chambré Public Affairs on July 21, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 908

What you need to know Sinn Féin leader criticised by deputy First Minister fo “talking down” NI economy During an interview on Monday (14 July) on Good Morning Britain, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD said Northern Ireland was “not economically viable” as a territory, the Irish News reported. Ms McDonald said that partition had “cut off” the six counties “its natural political, social and economic hinterland”. “For us,” she added, “in economic terms, in social terms, in democratic terms …

Weekly Bulletin

Chambré Public Affairs on June 28, 2025, 2:57 pm

| Readers 286

What you need to know Infrastructure Minister still committed to A5 after judge rules that upgrade plans breach Climate Change Act Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said she remains committed to delivering a new A5, after a judicial review ruled that the plans were not in line with the Climate Change Act. According to BBC News, Mr Justice McAlinden ruled that the Department was in breach of Section 52, having failed to produce evidence that upgrading the A5 would be consistent with overall …

Weekly Bulletin

Chambré Public Affairs on June 21, 2025, 12:42 pm

| Readers 317

What you need to know this week Long-awaited Anti-Poverty Strategy met with widespread criticism On Tuesday (17 June), Communities Minister Gordon Lyons MLA published the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy 2025-2035, 17 years after the Executive first committed to introducing a strategy. Speaking in the Assembly, Minister Lyons said that the draft strategy focuses on three key pillars: minimising the risk of falling into poverty, reducing the impact of poverty on people’s lives, and working to help people out of poverty. SDLP communities spokesperson, Mark …

Weekly Bulletin 14/06/2025

Chambré Public Affairs on June 14, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 296

A close-up of a hand with a pen analyzing data on colorful bar and line charts on paper.

What you need to know Executive condemns ‘racially motivated violence’ as Communities Minister dismisses resignation calls Politicians have condemned violent scenes across several towns in NI this week. As of Friday, 63 PSNI officers have been injured, according to the Police Federation for Northern Ireland. The disorder started in Ballymena on Monday night, following an alleged serious sexual assault in the town, reported on 7 June. On Wednesday (11 June), the Executive issued a joint statement condemning “racially motivated violence”. “While all …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week.

Chambré Public Affairs on June 7, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 376

What you need to know Budget for social housing will only fund half of Programme for Government target Speaking in the Assembly on Monday (2 June), Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons confirmed that the Stormont budget will fund work on only 900-1,000 new social houses this year. The Programme for Government committed to starting work on at least 5,850 new-build social homes by 2027, equating to roughly 2,000 new starts per year. According to BBC News, based on the current budget, …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know.

Chambré Public Affairs on May 31, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 158

What you need to know Health Minister issues Ministerial Direction on health staff pay awards On Thursday (29 May), Health Minister Mike Nesbitt issued a Ministerial Direction to the Department of Finance to release funding for health and social care staff pay awards which were announced last week. In a written statement, Minister Nesbitt said the decision was not “taken lightly” and was taken due to “current significant shortfall in the Health budget”. The Minister stated that including the projected £200 …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week

Chambré Public Affairs on May 24, 2025, 2:15 pm

| Readers 323

NI politicians react to UK-EU trade deal On Monday (19 May), Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a new UK-EU agreement affecting food, fishing and security during a summit in London. In an article in Friday’s (23 May) Belfast Telegraph, NI Secretary Hilary Benn MP said it was a “particularly good deal for Northern Ireland”. He said new agreements reached by the UK and EU on agri-food products and plants, which will “eliminate paperwork” and “protect the UK internal market”. He also noted that …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week…

Chambré Public Affairs on May 17, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 357

First Minister says Anti-Poverty Strategy could “go further” On Thursday (15 May), the Executive agreed on a draft Anti-Poverty Strategy, BBC News reports. Communities Minister Gordon Lyons submitted a draft paper on the strategy to ministers six weeks ago, describing it as a “realistic” long-term plan to tackle poverty. The Executive first committed to publishing an anti-poverty strategy as part of the St Andrews Agreement in 2006, and in March was found to be in breach of its legal obligation to adopt a …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week

Chambré Public Affairs on May 10, 2025, 12:00 pm

| Readers 573

Finance Minister publishes Cost of Doing Business report On Tuesday (6 May) Finance Minister John O’Dowd announced the publication of the ‘Cost of Doing Business Impact Report’, produced by the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre. The report found that the changes in Employer’s National Insurance Contributions and increases in the National Living Wage will have a major impact on employers across NI. It warned that the changes increase the risk of businesses resorting to “off-the-books” cash payments to employees. The report …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week…

Chambré Public Affairs on May 3, 2025, 12:30 pm

| Readers 304

Economy Minister outlines proposals for Good Jobs Bill On Monday (28 April) in the Assembly, Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald outlined her proposals for the Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill, which she described as the “biggest upgrade of our employment legislation since the Good Friday Agreement”. The Bill has four themes: Terms of Employment, Pay and Benefits, Voice and Representation, and Work Life Balance. Key changes to employment law include ending zero hour contracts and further rights for agency workers. Dr Archibald said …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week

Chambré Public Affairs on April 28, 2025, 10:36 am

| Readers 311

Legacy issues discussed at British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference On Thursday (24 April), the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met at Hillsborough Castle, the first time the meeting has been held in Northern Ireland since 2006. The UK Government was represented by Secretary of State for NI, Hilary Benn MP and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Fleur Anderson MP. The Irish Government was represented by Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris TD and Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan TD. According to BBC News NI, the …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week…

Chambré Public Affairs on April 19, 2025, 1:00 pm

| Readers 509

Starmer urged to drop red lines in EU negotiations Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been urged to seek closer alignment with the EU to mitigate the impact of Brexit. It comes amid reports that the UK may accept a form of regulatory alignment on of rules on food and agricultural products as part of a revised sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. According to the News Letter, “any such deal would ease the internal UK trade friction caused by the Irish Sea …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week…

Chambré Public Affairs on April 12, 2025, 1:02 pm

| Readers 569

PM holds talks with FM and dFM to discuss US tariffs On Friday (11 April), Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a call with political leaders from NI, Scotland, and Wales to discuss the impact of tariffs on UK exports to the United States. US President Donald Trump has imposed a 10% on almost all imports, in addition to 25% tariffs on cars and steel and aluminium products. The First Minister and deputy First Minister both raised concerns about the particular impact of …

Weekly Bulletin. What you need to know this week…

Chambré Public Affairs on April 5, 2025, 12:35 pm

| Readers 425

Ministers describe Trump tariffs as “deeply regrettable” and warn that NI must not become “collateral damage” This week, NI politicians reacted to Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement. UK exports to the US will face a tariff of 10%, while EU goods have been hit with a 20% tariff. Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald MLA described the tariffs as “deeply regrettable”, adding: “A trade war will only fuel inflation and risk recession.” During engagement with Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP and Tánaiste Simon …