Call For Education System To Be Reformed

Alliance Education spokesperson Chris Lyttle MLA has said the Education Authority (EA) going almost £20 million over budget is more evidence that the system here needs root and branch reform.

Mr Lyttle was speaking after it was revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General that the EA finished the last financial year with a £19.1 million deficit, which would have been higher had additional funding not been allocated throughout the year.

In addition, the EA was not informed of its allocated budget by the Department of Education and the Department for the Economy until six working days before the start of the financial year, as well as not agreeing how the budget would be spent until August 2016, five months after the commencement of the year.

"This report by the Comptroller and Auditor General has confirmed Alliance's previous call for the need for a root and branch review of the entire education system here," said Mr Lyttle.

"The EA has suffered the consequences of late decision-making regarding its budget, meaning the organisation was unable to balance things financially and making clear how much money is there for schools, further pointing to the unsustainability of the current approach to the system."

McCue Scoops Contract For Biggest 'Lush' Shop In NI

The fit out contract for Belfast's brand new 'Lush' store has been awarded to McCue Crafted Fit, as the cosmetics company is relocating to a larger site.

Lush will move from its Belfast City Centre location to a Castle Lane site, and will become the biggest Lush store in Northern Ireland.

The project started last week and will take 10 weeks to complete.

Speaking about the project, Managing Director of McCue Crafted Fit, Les McCracken said: "We are delighted to fit out the new Lush store in Belfast. Having worked with Lush for many years throughout the UK, it's good to be able to showcase our work for this brand, and our expertise, in Northern Ireland.

"As with all of our customers, we have built an excellent relationship with the team at Lush; this is fundamental to working with our clients and in each project we take a fresh approach and we're not afraid to do things differently. This is a good project for Belfast and we look forward to our work with Lush in our home city."

McCue has previously worked on Lush's award winning 9500 square feet London flagship shop on Oxford Street, and has also worked with the brand at its Bournemouth store and a customer care office in Poole.

Brexit Will Be Catastrophic For West Tyrone - SDLP

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan MLA has said he will represent all of West Tyrone should he become the constituency's next MP after Thursday's by-election.

Despite the polarising landscape that engulfed the June 2017 General Election, McCrossan has repeatedly said that Thursday's vote must not be reduced to narrow party politics, but rather the rapidly changing socio-economic landscape thrust upon the island by Brexit.

He said: "Brexit will be catastrophic for West Tyrone. Despite Sinn Féin's disingenuous claims that Brexit cannot be stopped at Westminster, yesterday's vote in the House of Lords that ruled Parliament can choose to send ministers back to the negotiating table in Brussels if they are discontent with Theresa May's Brexit deal, means that the Westminster chamber can realistically stop a physical border between Lifford and Strabane is Westminster.

"West Tyrone overwhelmingly voted to remain in the European Union. As a border constituency that will be disproportionately affected by Brexit, constituents deserve more than the dismissal of their fears by the DUP and the underplaying of them by Sinn Féin."

(CD/MH)