Other News In Brief

Over £670,000 To Be Invested In The North West

The Department for Communities has announced Neighbourhood Renewal Investment funding towards capital projects in Limavady and Strabane.

The Bethany Community Trust in Limavady has secured £400,000 towards the building of a new high quality community hall. The hall will be located on the site adjacent to St Marys Church at Irish Green Street which is in the centre of the Limavady Neighbourhood Renewal Area.

Funding of £278,796 will enable Strabane Health Improvement Project to remove and replace the current porta cabin with the construction of a new Modular Community Health Building at Ballycolman in the Strabane Neighbourhood Renewal Area.

Questions Remain Unanswered Over Brexit - SDLP

Reacting to the publication of the Brexit White Paper, SDLP Brexit Spokesperson Claire Hanna MLA has said that questions still remain unanswered.

She said: "Two years on, and the British Government have now published their White Paper which supposedly sets out their vision of a future EU-UK relationship. Albeit, without a single Northern Irish MP in Westminster to ask questions about it.

"The paper says that Brexit will be for the economy, for communities, for the union, for democracy and for the UK’s place in the world, but so far, the Brexit wrecking ball has started to damage all of these things.

"It has taken a long time to get here, but it appears that the British Government are finally ready, in some way at least, to try and negotiate and Theresa May is beginning to face down extreme Brexiteers in her cabinet. However, it remains to be seen how many of these proposals will actually be accepted by the EU.

"Far too many questions remain unanswered and there is still an absence of detail on how the British Government will actually fully reconcile the fact that following Brexit, one part of the Island would be in the Single Market and one part would not."

UUP Accused Of Playing The 'Blame Game' Over Bonfire Solutions

Alliance Councillor Emmet McDonough Brown has said the UUP's desperation to avoid providing long lasting solutions to bonfires is fully on display, as the party has yet again begun playing the blame game in a bid to distract attention from its Councillors' actions.

He said that despite the UUP, along with other Unionist parties, backing plans for the Department for Infrastructure to take action over the Walkway bonfire in East Belfast - as shown in a joint statement released earlier this week - the Party had "run away from taking the tough actions needed" to support residents.

He added: "Jim Rodgers has been taking great delight in blaming the Council, Alliance or anyone else he can think of to divert attention away from his actions. Yet while Jim is on record as supporting DFI taking action, I must question how he thought that action was going to unfold and why he was so determined to leave local residents to fend for themselves.

"There are many relieved people who had been preparing for an uneasy night tonight where it not for this intervention. With the needs of the community in mind, and earlier agreements in place, I'm still confused as to why Jim and his colleagues saw fit to turn their backs on them."

(CD)