SF Condemn Those Behind Attack On Nurse

Sinn Féin has condemned an attack in a female nurse at the Royal Maternity Hospital on Saturday 11 January as "disgraceful’.

The West Belfast MLA.Órlaithí Flynn said: "I am horrified to learn that a young nurse, who had been working at the Royal Maternity Hospital, was assaulted on Saturday evening.

"This is absolutely disgraceful and my thoughts are with the woman who was the victim of this attack.

"Nurses are the backbone of our health system who go above and beyond for patients, it’s shocking that one has been targeted in this way. 

"Police have appealed for a man who intervened during this assault to contact them on 101."

SEN Plan Must Be Fully Funded – Hunter

Any plan to improve NI's special educational needs (SEN) system "must be fully funded", SDLP Opposition Education Spokesperson Cara Hunter MLA has said.

Speaking after Education Minister Paul Givan detailed his plan in the Assembly, the East Derry MLA said: "Many of the initiatives contained in the Minister’s plan today are to be welcomed, but unless these proposals are backed up with a firm financial commitment from the Executive they will never be delivered and the hopes of parents that the support they have been crying out for may finally come to fruition should not be raised unduly. The Executive has earmarked no money in their latest budget for this transformation plan which casts serious doubts over when it is likely to be implemented.

"Introducing measures around early interventions, opportunities for those aged 19+, ensuring families have proper support and that all staff have access to the training they need would make a real difference to young people with SEN and their families. I particularly welcome a commitment to introduce a child development passport, something I have been campaigning for, which would detail a child’s needs and progress throughout their time in education and if successful I believe we should look at rolling this out on a wider basis.

"I have spoken at length with SEN parents who are burned out, exhausted, feel like they're running in circles and desperately want to see these changes implemented. We can’t allow this plan to become another wishlist that is welcomed and quickly forgotten. Good intentions will not result in young people with SEN having the best possible educational experience and it has been clear for some time that radical change is needed. If the Executive really wants to improve education for those with SEN and to support their families, then they need to back this plan up with funding."

Health Minister Must Make 'Tough Decisions' – Alliance

The Alliance Party has called on the Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, to accept the responsibility of making "tough decisions".

The party's Health spokesperson, Nuala McAllister MLA, made the call following the publication of the Department of Health's Equality Impact Assessment on the draft 2025-26 budget. McAllister said that the Minister need to "adopt a firmer stance on calls for efficiency and reform in our health system".

The North Belfast MLA said: "Though the Health Minister continues to denounce any calls for efficiency as vague and unsubstantial, I would urge him to look seriously at areas for improvement throughout his department's spending and get on with delivery instead of an endless series of consultations and reviews.

"The reality is that there is far too much wastage within the Department of Health, whether it is spending £619million on independent social care without proper procurement processes, hundreds of millions being wasted due to hospital flow being managed inefficiently, or prevention and screening not being prioritised leading to more money being spent on treatment of diseases which could have been caught much earlier.

"The Department of Health cannot continue to spend over half of the Executive's entire budget into a failing system and kick every difficult decision down the road through consultation exercises, rather than taking action to deliver better services and ease financial pressures. It's time for the Minister to accept responsibility for making tough decisions and adopt a firmer stance on calls for efficiency and reform in our health system.

"Alliance will continue to call for transformation of our health service, which is currently experiencing unacceptable pressures, to better support its staff and patients, and continue to propose tangible suggestions to improve efficiency throughout the system."