People living in Northern Ireland are being urged to help in the search for a vaccine for COVID-19, by signing up to the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry. The new vaccine research registry will help large numbers of people to be recruited into trials over the coming months, potentially leading toRead More →
Education Minister, Peter Weir, has announced that all pupils will return to school full-time in Northern Ireland from the beginning of term. Mr Weir today (6 August) said he wants all schools to return to more normal patterns of operation and attendance from the week beginning 31 August. Revised NewRead More →
BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, has been helping families across the UK to engage with books and storytelling during the Covid-19 pandemic, offering support, advice and free books to disadvantaged families who have been hardest hit by lockdown. Reading can be an important escape for many children, andRead More →
With over 20 cancelled fundraisers since March, two of Northern Ireland’s most essential charities are launching their first official campaign since lockdown with the help of their charity partners, SPAR and EUROSPAR NI. The teams and service users of Marie Curie NI and Cancer Fund for Children have had toRead More →
Belfast’s Grand Opera House has had to revise the programme for its planned reopening due to the impact of covid-19. The Theatre closed in January 2020 ahead of the pandemic outbreak, and subsequent lockdown, to undertake a major restoration and development project, and was originally due to reopen again inRead More →
Tourism Northern Ireland is encouraging local people to explore Northern Ireland’s world-class food scene during their staycations with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. There’s never been a better time to enjoy Northern Ireland’s outstanding restaurants, gastro pubs, cafés and other eateries after the government vowed to pick upRead More →
Health Minister Robin Swann has urged the public to download and activate the new mobile phone app, released today (31 August), which will alert users if they have been in close contact with other users who have tested positive for Covid-19. Announcing the “go-live” of the StopCOVID NI app, MinisterRead More →
Commenting on Department of Education advice on how to deal with children who have symptoms of Coronavirus when they return to school, Koulla Yiasouma, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma said, “It is never appropriate to isolate a child ‘behind a closed door’, never mind when theyRead More →
Today (23 July) the NI Executive agreed that from Friday 24 July some spectators can attend organised outdoor sports fixtures or events where the sports Governing Body, club or venue operator can ensure compliance with social distancing, control numbers accordingly and have appropriate hygiene regimes in place. The Executive alsoRead More →
Following today’s announcement (Wed 22 July) from the NI Assembly on its intention to establish a new NI Youth Assembly, the NI Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma said: “I congratulate the Assembly Commission for today’s announcement. The voice and experiences of children and young people are essentialRead More →
New proposals to assist recovery in the childcare sector have been announced today, Wednesday 22 July. Education Minister Peter Weir outlined the plans following the allocation of a £10.5 million funding package for the childcare sector. The Childcare Recovery Support will help childcare providers to reopen, or remain open, and willRead More →
Academics from Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Aberdeen have uncovered evidence for a series of monumental temple complexes of the Iron Age, as well as residences of early kings of Ulster from the medieval period, at Navan Fort, Co. Armagh, the mythical capital of Ulster, known in Irish as Emain Macha. The research was conducted in the form ofRead More →