Other NI News In Brief

Customs Cuts Jobs

It has just been revealed that almost 200 jobs are to be lost within the Revenue and Customs organisation. It will follow the closure of half of the 10 tax and customs offices in Northern Ireland. While the management has denied that anyone will lose their jobs, insisting that workers will instead be re-deployed, the trade union involved, PCS, has been reported on the BBC today as saying the workforce in NI will fall by 190 over the next three years from 640 to 450.

ATM Robbery

A security guard has been robbed of a cash box at knifepoint in Antrim town. He was approached by a man in High Street at about 7pm on Wednesday. It is believed that he was stepping out of a cash-in-transit van while carrying money to replenish a nearby ATM machine. The guard was threatened with a knife and forced to drop the box. Although the box was protected by sophisticated security devices, the thieves are thought to have got away with a substantial amount of money after the robber grabbed the cash box and escaped in a waiting vehicle. Police are seeking information on the robbery.

Axe Robbery Suspects Held

Police are continuing to appeal for anyone with information to contact them following an armed robbery at a shop in Bangor, Co Down earlier this week when an axe was brandished. Two men and a woman have since been arrested as part of the probe after the incident at about 4pm on Tuesday when a man entered the shop on Central Avenue armed with an axe and demanded money. He made off with a sum of cash. During a follow-up search of a house in Bangor, police found a quantity of drugs and cash.

SF Target Health

Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson, Michelle O'Neill, an MLA for Mid-Ulster, is today hosting a major health sector consultation in Stormont. Major providers of health care and frontline services along with several unions will be attending the event. Ms O Neill said: "The purpose of the event is to bring together representatives of the health care professions to identify both current and future challenges within the sector. Sinn Féin hope to provide a forum where a number of speakers including representatives from Unison, the Institute of Public Health in Ireland and the BMA, address different perspectives of health, social services and public safety, and are able to outline key issues in their field which should be of a priority to us as a party," she said, also noting a wider invitation to groups and health workers to the conference to provide feedback and generate discussion after the presentations. So far there has been immense uptake with over 50 groups sending representatives.

Health Gets Lottery £££

A major event is being held in Belfast today to celebrate an investment of more than £40 million Lottery cash to improve the health of thousands of people across Northern Ireland. The Big Lottery Fund, the biggest of the Lottery good cause funders, has invested the money into a range of programmes since 1995 tackling the three major killers - coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer as well as a network of innovative community health projects across Northern Ireland. The event is being held as part of Big Thinking, the Big Lottery Fund’s public consultation which is asking organisations and individuals across Northern Ireland to debate how BIG's Good Cause cash should be allocated between 2009 and 2015. The health event, which will be chaired by the BBC’s Mark Carruthers, will debate the impact of the range of innovative health programmes that were developed with Big Lottery Fund grants over the past 10 years.

Travellers' Site For Derry

Travellers are to get a boost today with news that a special site for them is being officially opened in Londonderry. The Department for Social Development has provided £1.63m to fund the development of 10 new family homes at Labre Park, Derry. Whilst Travellers have been living on this site for over 30 years, this is the first time that they will be able to enjoy a more permanent home to call their own. The houses were designed and project managed by the NI Housing Executive, who have also refurbished the existing transit site alongside these new homes, upgrading facilities to cater for those families who continue to live a more traveller lifestyle. Alan Shannon, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Social Development, who will open the site said: "I am delighted to be able to open this new Traveller Group Housing Scheme providing 10 families the opportunity to move into a bright, new energy efficient home."

Wastewater Gets The Treatment

A new £7million wastewater treatment works in Glenstall, Ballymoney has just been opened. The Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Conor Murphy, officially opened the new works which are capable of treating wastewater flow from a population of approximately 40,650 in the area. This new state-of-the-art treatment facility will result in reduced carbon footprint, operational flexibility, and will ensure that wastewater treatment in the area meets the latest European standards.