Other News In Brief

Plans Announced To Reduce Marine Litter

Marine litter is one of the fastest growing environmental problems, according to Sinn Féin.

To help tackle the problem, the United Nations (UN) has proposed that governments should set up a task force to advise on combating what the UN's oceans chief has described as a planetary crisis.

Councillor Cathal Boylan welcomed the plans. He said: "We all have a responsibility to deal with this issue. The UN can't do it alone we need to work together at government level, with businesses and even individuals."

Call for Nurses To Receive A Pay Increase

The Ulster Unionist Party has once again called for nurses in Northern Ireland to be awarded the 1% increase in pay after the recommendation of the Independent Pay Review Body.

The party's health spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA said it is a vermodest rise and below inflationary increase.

He said: "Given our medical staff in Northern Ireland are signed up to the NHS’s wider UK terms and conditions, they shouldn't be treated any worse or be any less thought-off than their colleagues in England, Scotland and Wales. Yet that is exactly what is happening.

"In previous years when the Independent Pay Review Body recommended a 1% increase here it was often ignored, disregarded or deliberately delayed. It was outrageous and made a mockery of the so-called independence and authority of the recommendation.

"It is now even more ridiculous that in the absence of a functioning Executive the 1% rise continues to be delayed.

"Nurses here are working under totally unprecedented pressure in circumstances that are only continuing to get worse. There needs to be an immediate recognition that unless a decision is taken quickly on this, the problem of nursing vacancies will only continue to get worse."

DUP Condemns Paint Attack On War Memorial

East Antrim DUP MLA Gordon Lyons has described a paint attack on Larne’s War Memorial as "absolutely disgusting".

He said it is an insult to the memory of all those who fought and died for our freedom.

"This is the second time this has happened in the last eighteen months and only weeks after the memorial was refurbished ahead of Remembrance Sunday," he said.

"The people of Larne will be outraged by the behaviour of these small minded vandals who have caused great upset to people across the town and beyond. I would urge anyone with information to contact the PSNI immediately."

(CD)